Compare Pet Insurance

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Contributor, Benzinga
April 18, 2022

If you have a pet that you love, you understand that your furry or fluffy friend isn’t just another piece of property — he or she is a member of your family. Unfortunately, your homeowners insurance won’t cover the potentially devastating costs associated with taking your pet to seek medical care after being diagnosed with a major illness or injury. This can leave you responsible for thousands of dollars in veterinarian bills if your pet needs urgent care.

A pet insurance policy can help you cover the costs of expensive medical bills without breaking the bank. As a pet owner, you have many options for pet insurance, and it’s never been easier to get the coverage that you and your companion need. Our guide to pet insurance options will help you choose the right company. 

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Pet Insurance Options

As a pet owner, you have dozens of options when it comes to pet insurance policies. Our guide will help you identify the policy features that are most important to you — and to choose an insurance option that fits your needs.

Lemonade 

Pet insurance is one option in a robust catalog offered by Lemonade. You can apply online, submit claims online and your excess premium payments even go to charity. You can bundle your other Lemonade policies with this plan, and you get coverage for:

  • Accidents and illness
  • Diagnostics
  • Procedures, surgeries, specialty and emergency care
  • Medications

Preventative and wellness coverage offers support for:

  • Wellness exams
  • Testing for parasites, etc.
  • Heartworm tests
  • Bloodwork
  • Vaccines
  • Live medical chat services with an expert

You can also look into extended coverage that pays for vet exam fees and physical therapy. Reach out to the customer service team or apply online today. You can go to any vet, submit your receipts and get reimbursed for your pet’s veterinary care without the hangups that come with your own health insurance.

Wagmo

Wagmo is a pet insurance plan that works for both dogs and cats, and while it offers a range of customizable features, its best attributes include:

  • Short, 15-day waiting period
  • Can cover up to 100% of emergency care
  • Robust wellness programs
  • All-online service and support
  • A massive range of emergency coverages
  • A powerful mobile app
  • Mobile claims and reimbursement services

When you use Wagmo, you can go on the website right away and enter all the information for your pet, get a quote, customize that quote to suit your monthly budget and/or reach out to the customer service team for more information. Additionally, you can make adjustments to your coverage at any time, add more pets and enjoy a streamlined process that allows you to tend to your furry family members instead of juggling paperwork.

Chewy Care Plus

Chewy Care Plus is a robust and comprehensive wellness and insurance plan for cats and dogs. Wellness coverage includes preventative care, routine vet visits, vaccines and assorted medications.

Accident and illness coverage helps your pets when they are sick and need to go to the vet on an emergency basis. This might include sickness, injuries and orthopedic issues. Additionally, your pets might need care for age-related conditions, chronic conditions, digestive issues and more. 

Best for regular checkups, you can get 24/7 customer care and unlimited access to licensed veterinarians. 

Spot

Most pet insurance policies extend to emergency medical needs only. This means that, while you’ll have coverage for illnesses like cancer or traumatic injuries, you typically can’t count on standard pet insurance policies to cover things like routine vet bills and supplements.

Spot is among the only pet insurance policies we’ve seen to offer coverage for alternative and holistic treatments. For example, Spot’s dog insurance policies cover holistic treatments like hydrotherapy, chiropractic care and low-level laser therapy. The company even provides coverage for behavioral issues (such as anxiety, fur pulling and aggressive licking) and supplements and vitamins required to treat these conditions — as long as your pet doesn’t already show symptoms of them when you sign up for your policy. 

You can also add coverage for regular preventive care (like vet checkups) as well for just a few extra dollars per month. Plus, there’s a 24/7 vet helpline provided by VetConnect.

With easy plan options and plenty of benefits included on both cat and dog policies, Spot is an excellent choice for any pet owner interested in holistic coverage for alternative therapies alongside traditional treatment options. 

Best for Annual Deductibles: Pumpkin

Some pet insurance providers like Trupanion include a per-incident deductible that can severely limit the amount of savings you can claim from your pet insurance provider. For example, if you have a per-incident deductible of $100, it means that you’ll need to pay $100 each time that you use your plan — with no limit on the total amount of money you’ll end up paying out-of-pocket. This per-incident deductible comes in addition to any co-insurance percentage that you’re responsible for paying each time your pet needs care.

Pumpkin’s plans include a standard annual deductible in lieu of a per-incident deductible. This means that once your annual deductible is paid in full, you won’t need to worry about payinganother deductible until the next annual term. Pumpkin’s plans also provide a number of additional benefits — like coverage for exam fees associated with accidents and illnesses — that aren’t covered by some other providers.

Progressive

If your pet is in great health or is in their younger years, you may be able to save money on your pet insurance coverage by choosing an accident-only plan from Progressive. As the name suggests, accident-only plans provide limited coverage for traumatic injuries like car accidents and broken bones but don't extend to chronic illnesses like diabetes and cancer. This policy option can help pet owners who have younger animals less likely to develop these conditions in the near future to save money on their immediate coverage needs.

Progressive pet insurance policies can also be beneficial if you already have some kind of insurance policy through the insurer. As among the largest insurance providers in the U.S, Progressive offers a comprehensive set of coverage options for homes, cars, businesses and more. Bundling your pet insurance policy with another policy option from Progressive can help you save even more on both insurance types. 

Petplan

Select pet insurance providers may deny coverage based on your pet’s age, as older animals are more likely to develop expensive illnesses that require multiple rounds of treatments. For example, providers like Trupanion and Healthy Paws include specific clauses that allow them to deny your pet coverage if they’re over a certain age. This can make it difficult or prohibitively expensive to insure an older cat or dog.

Unlike some other pet insurance providers, Petplan doesn’t institute any type of policy limit related to your pet’s age, which means that you can get coverage for even senior cats and dogs. Petplan is also among the only pet insurance providers that we’ve seen to offer comprehensive tele-med services for pets. Policyholders can claim up to $1,000 of virtual vet visits with no co-insurance and no deductible — a major benefit as COVID-19 concerns continue to limit in-person veterinary office hours. 

Embrace

Like humans, pets can also develop dental illnesses and need emergency dental work — which can get expensive and is excluded from many pet insurance policies. Embrace Pet Insurance offers some of the highest coverage limits for dental care, covering both dental emergencies and chronic dental conditions. Illnesses like periodontal disease, gingivitis, root canals, crowns, oral masses, extractions and more are covered up to $1,000 per year.

If you’re looking for an affordable policy that covers emergencies only, Embrace is also an excellent choice alongside Progressive. Embrace’s emergency-only plans start coverage just 48 hours after you enroll in your plan, which is a significantly shorter waiting period than competitors. Emergency plans also come with a 30-day money-back guarantee — so you can drop your coverage and receive a refund if you decide that Embrace isn’t the right pet insurance provider for your furry friend. 

PetFirst

Pet insurance can quickly become expensive, especially when you factor in deductibles, coinsurance percentages and any add-ons you need to include with your policy. If you’re a cat or dog owner shopping on a tight budget, PetFirst might be the best policy provider for you. PetFirst offers insurance for dogs from just $15 per month, while cat owners can get coverage from just $9 per month in most parts of the U.S. 

Looking for coverage for an older animal? PetFirst offers specialized policies for senior pets that extend coverage to some of the most common age-related issues cats and dogs might face as they enter their golden years.  

Enrolling in Coverage for Your Furry Friend 

An important detail to keep in mind as you shop for insurance — all of our favorite pet insurance providers only offer policies for cats and dogs, which is a common exclusion among pet insurance providers. If you need coverage for another type of pet (like a bird, guinea pig or an exotic animal) you’ll need to seek out a policy from a specialized insurance provider.

Nationwide is among the only U.S. pet insurance providers to offer pet insurance plans for exotic pets. Consider getting a quote from Nationwide or a smaller, more localized insurance company if you need coverage for a less common companion. 

Janet Hunt, Insurance Agent

About Janet Hunt, Insurance Agent

Janet has been working in, and writing about, the insurance industry for over 20 years.