Can Your Pet Insurance Actually Protect Your Pet?

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It’s every pet parent’s worst nightmare: after signing up for pet insurance and paying monthly premiums, they find out that their insurance can’t help them when they need it most.

Pet insurance policies come in a wide variety of coverage options and a lot of them don’t offer enough protection to fully cover a dire situation like emergency surgery or ongoing cancer treatments.

Some of the policy differences come down to just what the different insurance companies want to offer. The rest is by design: customizing your premium based on what you want to pay each month is a great feature in pet insurance, but lower premiums mean less coverage–sometimes in ways you don’t expect.

At PetInsure.ai we want to help you fully understand your pet insurance policy’s coverage so you know if you have enough and whether you’re paying too much for it. Check out our free pet insurance review tool to ensure that you’re getting the most coverage for your budget.

What Is Pet Insurance, Anyway?

Like human health insurance, pet insurance is a system where in exchange for paying a monthly premium into the plan, you get access to the benefits of that plan.

Depending on the specific plan, the benefits can be great! It can help pay for vet bills when your dog eats a chew toy or your cat swallows some string,needs ongoing treatments for diabetes and thyroid conditions, and if something unexpected happens to your beloved pet, like being bitten by a dog or hit by a car.

But the devil is in the details; in order for pet insurance to be worth it, the benefits you gain need to be worth at least as much as how much you’re paying in.

How To Compare Pet Insurance Quotes

When comparing pet insurance plans, most people focus on the premium. The premium is the monthly, so this makes sense; we want to know how much we have to pay every month to have access to the health insurance plan.

Unfortunately, when comparing pet insurance plans, you have to look beyond the premium. Different pet insurance plans might have premiums that cost about the same–so your monthly fee looks close enough–but have very different benefits.

Make sure to also look at:

The deductible: how much you’ll have to pay out-of-pocket before the pet insurance company starts paying for things. Generally, a higher deductible means a cheaper premium, but it also means you have to pay more before the insurer chips in.
The reimbursement rate: this is the percent of the vet bill the insurance company will pay for. A reimbursement rate of 90% means you get 90% back, but comes with a higher premium than the same plan with a 70% reimbursement rate.
Maximum benefit: how much the insurance company is willing to pay–in total–for your pet’s vet bills. This can be something that resets annually (a maximum annual benefit), or based on your pet (a maximum lifetime benefit).
Multi-pet discounts: most insurers offer discounts for having multiple policies with them.
Plan type and covered benefits: plans that have better coverage will cost more in premiums than simpler plans.

What Does Pet Insurance Cover?

The first thing to know is that there are three types of pet insurance plans:

Accident-only plans, like the name suggests, only offer coverage for unexpected accidents and emergencies, such as bite wounds, broken bones, or when your pet eats something toxic or hazardous.
Accident and illness plans offer additional coverage for–you guessed it–illnesses. They can cover exam fees, diagnostic tests, and ongoing treatments for specific conditions.
Wellness coverage helps pay for annual visits, vaccinations, and other preventative care.
Note: pet insurance carriers only offer wellness coverage in addition to one of the other plans; you can’t purchase it on its own.

Coverage examples*

Accident-Only

Treatments for:

Bite Wounds
Cuts
Broken bones
Fractured teeth
Toxic ingestions (grapes, chocolate, e.g.)
Swallowed objects (tennis balls, chew toys, string, e.g.)

Emergency diagnostic and treatments for accidents, such as:

Accident & Illness

← Everything in Accident-Only, plus:

Treatments for major and minor illnesses, such as:

Cancer
Allergies
Arthritis
Diabetes
Digestive Problems
Eye, Ear & Skin Infections
Hip Dysplasia
Hypothyroidism
Kennel Cough
Respiratory Infections
Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

Wellness Coverage

Annual Exam
Dental Cleanings
Deworming
Feline Leukemia Virus (FELV) screenings
Heartworm tests
Microchipping
Vaccinations
Spaying & Neutering

*These examples are commonly covered by these policies, but every plan and pet insurance carrier is different; check the specifics of any policy before signing up.

Pay particular attention (if your pet needs it) to whether your plan covers:

Prescription food and supplements
Dental treatments, such as exams and routine cleanings.
Behavioral therapy for veterinarian-diagnosed issues like aggression (pet insurance plans don’t cover puppy training or obedience lessons).
Chronic or hereditary conditions such as heart disease, eye disorders, and hip dysplasia.
Alternative treatments like acupuncture, chiropractic care, hydrotherapy, naturopathy, and homeopathy.

Some pet insurance carriers include coverage for these in their off-the-shelf plans. For the ones that don’t, you might be able to contact them for a rider–an additional insurance feature that offers the specific coverage your pet needs in exchange for a higher premium.

What Pet Insurance Doesn’t Cover

Pet insurance carriers know that most pet parents won’t think about buying a plan….until they really need one. As a result, every pet insurance plan comes with a waiting period before coverage kicks in.

Waiting periods sound cruel, but they actually keep the cost of pet insurance down. Pet insurance carriers need to price their plans based on how much (and how often) they have to pay out. Without a waiting period, someone could sign up for insurance during an emergency, pay the small premium, and then ditch the plan after it pays for all of the expensive treatments.

There are usually several waiting periods per plan. You’ll have to wait:

Less than a week for accident coverage to kick in,
A month (or less) for illness coverage to start, and
Six months to a year for certain conditions like hip dysplasia.

Once you’ve made it through the waiting period, there are still several things most pet insurers won’t cover:

Pre-existing conditions. If your pet already has a chronic condition, illness, or injury (whether sustained before or during the waiting period).
Bilateral conditions where your pet already has issues with one eye or one leg, and later develops a (related) problem on the other side.
Breed-specific exclusions. Some breeds of dogs and cats are more prone to certain (expensive) conditions, and pet insurers won’t cover treatment in these cases.
Elective procedures, like declawing, ear cropping, and tail docking.
Pregnancy and birth care.
Boarding and grooming.

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How Max Got His $14,000 Cancer Treatment Covered

Critical Gap Found

Our review spotted that Sarah’s policy excluded cancer treatment for dogs over 8. She switched coverage one month before Max’s diagnosis.

Life-Saving Switch

New policy covered 90% of Max’s chemotherapy. Old policy would have paid $0.

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