by Timothy Moore
Contributor
Unexpected vet bills can be the most expensive part of welcoming a dog or cat into your family.
For many pet owners, pet insurance for their dogs, cats and even birds can keep the costs of pet care reasonable. While the monthly premiums are an additional expense on top of food, toys, treats and grooming, pet insurance is worth it for medical emergencies, especially serious illnesses or injuries.
With the cost of treating chronic illnesses so high, pet health insurance can mean being able to afford an improved quality of life for your companion and avoiding the tough decision of saying goodbye because you don’t have the money for a $5,000 procedure.
Like all insurance, it’s a gamble. You will likely spend more over the course of your animal’s life on monthly premiums than the cost of regular veterinary care if your pet is healthy. But if your best friend is dealt a bad hand, it’s reassuring to know you have insurance to take care of the problems.
In most cases, pet insurance is worth the cost but if you still need more information, we’ve gone into detail about how to decide if pet insurance is worth buying.
Which pet insurance plan has the perfect combination of coverage, flexibility, benefits and positive reviews? The six companies below represent the very best of pet insurance in 2022, starting with our top pick.
Methodology: To determine the best pet insurance companies listed below, we examined and rated them across these criteria: best value (most coverage at a reasonable premium), flexibility in plans and deductibles, the highest benefits and the best consumer reviews.
To be included on our list, pet insurance companies had to achieve at least a 7 out of 10 with Pet Insurance Review and offer, at a minimum, dog insurance and cat insurance.
What we love about Trupanion:
What we don’t love about Trupanion:
What we love about Lemonade:
What we don’t love about Lemonade:
What we love about Healthy Paws:
What we don’t love about Healthy Paws:
What we love about Embrace:
What we don’t love about Embrace:
What we love about Figo:
What we don’t love about Figo:
What we love about MetLife:
What we don’t love about MetLife:
While these didn’t make our top picks, we tip our hat to other leading insurance providers:
With so many options on the market nowadays, choosing insurance for your furry (or feathery, or scaly) friend can be stressful. In the past, I have insured multiple dogs with ASPCA Pet Health Insurance (and have been very satisfied), and my two dogs now are covered by Healthy Paws (still satisfied). Choosing these plans was no easy task; to do my due diligence, I read multiple pet insurance reviews and got multiple quotes..
When choosing your policy, identify multiple options that have the coverage, flexibility and other benefits suited to your pet’s needs and then request quotes from all of them. Compare these to find the option with the lowest premium that meets your needs.
Don’t forget to check with your employer about employee discounts. Many employers now offer discounts on pet insurance as part of their benefits packages.
So what should you look for in a pet insurance company? Here’s what the best policies offer:
What does the best pet insurance cover? Choose only from plans that offer comprehensive coverage, and find an insurer that covers specific conditions that are common in your pet’s breed. A good, comprehensive insurance plan should meet all the requirements listed below:
If you have an elderly dog or cat who has already developed serious issues, you may want to decline pet insurance. Unfortunately, the older cats and dogs get, the less sense it makes to purchase insurance for them, as costs will be too high and you will likely not see a positive return on investment.
No pet insurance policies currently offer support for preexisting conditions. That is why it is crucial that you insure your pet as early as possible. If you rescue a puppy or kitten, make insurance for your new family member a top priority in the first few days you bring them home.
If you’re thinking of covering a pet with a host of health problems, consider saving the money you would spend on insurance, and instead putting that into savings for future care.
If you already have a pet insured with one plan and she’s developed a number of issues, stick with it. A new pet insurance policy will likely see those as preexisting conditions, making it challenging to switch.
One area of coverage that might not be worth it? Wellness coverage. Wellness coverage typically includes dental cleaning, vaccines and regular check-ups.
Many policies allow you to elect for wellness coverage for an additional monthly fee. Instead, put the $20-ish a month you’d spend on that coverage into savings, then draw from that to pay for annual wellness visits.
The best pet insurance plans have flexible deductible options, typically between $0 and $1,000. Like human health insurance, high-deductible plans are cheaper.
Most plans have an annual deductible; Trupanion breaks from the pack with a one-time per-incident/per-condition deductible, meaning if your dog has a chronic issue, you’ll only have to meet the deductible once over the course of his life before the insurance benefits kick in. This would be a great solution for dogs famous for contracting specific illnesses, like hypothyroidism, which requires regular blood work and medication.
On the flip side, this solution would not be ideal for a dog or cat that requires lots of veterinary care for a wide range of unrelated issues, as you’d have to meet a deductible for each.
Some insurance plans have fixed deductibles. While that’s not necessarily a red flag, it’s nice to be able to choose the option that best suits your needs.
To save on monthly premiums, choose the highest deductible you’re comfortable paying. View your pet’s insurance as that “just-in-case” crutch to lean on if your dogs need emergency surgery or cancer treatment. If you can afford a $500 vet bill from time to time, save on the monthly payments and fork over $500 a year before the benefits kick in, but rest easy knowing you have support if disaster strikes and you’re faced with much larger vet bills.
As with deductibles, the best pet insurance companies will let you select the reimbursement option that fits your needs. Reimbursement is the amount insurance will pay after you have met your deductible. You are still financially responsible for the remaining percentage, called coinsurance.
The lower the reimbursement, the lower the monthly premium. Leaders in the pet insurance industry typically offer options for 70%, 80%, 90% and even 100% reimbursement (though the cost for the latter can be exorbitant). We only considered pet insurance companies that reimburse 70% at a minimum.
For example, let’s assume your plan has a deductible of $500, $300 of which you have already met. It also has a 70% reimbursement. You take your dog in for a stomach issue that, after testing and treatment, costs you $400. You will pay $200 toward your deductible.
Of the remaining $200 owed, your insurance will cover $140 (70%), leaving you with a $60 bill. Any future illnesses or injuries that year should also be covered at 70% because your deductible has been met.
So how much does pet insurance cost? It’s difficult to pinpoint which insurance company offers the best premium, because quotes depend on variables such as your pet’s age, breed, size, location and more. Dogs are 50% to 60% more expensive to insure than cats because they are more susceptible to injury and illness.
For reference, the current average monthly premium for accident and illness pet health insurance is $50 for dogs and $28 for cats.
Premiums will also depend on the coverage you elect and the deductible and reimbursement amounts you select. Still, we’ve examined typical premiums across the top rated pet insurance policies and used those to influence our list of the best pet insurance companies.
Some pet insurers, like ASPCA Pet Health Insurance, offer multi-pet discounts to help you save on premiums.
While you should take reviews with a grain of salt, consumer reviews of insurance companies can be extremely helpful. Pet Insurance Review’s website scores companies out of 10 based on customer ratings, while Consumer Affairs and similar sites let you browse hundreds of reviews of policies.
A final consideration: What animal are you hoping to insure? While most pet insurance companies provide coverage for dogs and cats, only Nationwide includes policies for animals like birds, lizards and rodents.
While Nationwide is not the strongest insurer across the other criteria, it stands out as a winner for the range of animals covered.
If pet insurance seems like a financial burden, consider starting a savings account for pet emergencies and putting away the equivalent of a premium each month.
When an emergency does happen, you will have that money to rely on, but you’ll have been earning interest on it (check out one of these high-yield online savings accounts).
One caveat: If you have a pet for just a couple months and she develops a serious issue or gets injured, you likely won’t have much saved up and you’ll need savings on hand to cover the cost. If you do have to pay for emergency vet care and don’t have pet health insurance, there are several options for pet parents to choose from.
Timothy Moore covers banking and investing for The Penny Hoarder from his home base in Cincinnati. He covers a variety of other topics, including pets, insurance, taxes, retirement and budgeting and has worked in the field since 2012.
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