pet insurance

walter

walter

Fourth Party
Our new pup came with 2 months of pet insurance, and my wifes work actually offers a pet insurance plan, have any of you used any of the more popular ones? We are looking into renewing/using either PetFirst, Nationwide, Trupanion, Embrace or Healthy Paws. Anyone have exp. with any of these? Pros/cons? Dos and don'ts?

thanks.
 
After reading reviews and BBB reports, comparing prices amount of coverage etc, we decided on Healthy Paws.
 
Look into them very carefully, what they pay for/what they don't, and how they reimburse you (yes, you need to pay up front).

I used to work for a vet when those were starting to show up, and there were a *lot* of angry people who assumed they worked like people health insurance, when they really worked more like car insurance, complete with irritating caveats.

IMO, if you do the math for what you pay, versus "normal" preventative care (flea/tick meds, yearly vaccinations, 'wellness' visits), it's a wash.

That said, you may feel more comfortable with it—just read carefully what they will pay for/towards, especially regarding emergency visits/illnesses.
 
+1 for Healthy Paws here.
Have had it for 2 years, and am happy with it.
I can get discount coverage with a different provider through work,
but opted for HP based on their reimbursement model (% coverage and deductible,
vs. the discretionary "usual and customary" coverage).

This % coverage model is what I saw in the 3 top insurers I looked when we were shopping.
It was basically pretty even between them all, but I chose HP.

Also the ease of submitting is great- upload invoice and doctor notes,
and they process the claim pretty quickly.
We changed to a new vet, and they submit the invoice and notes for us.
Again, I think this available from most companies now.

When I was researching, the general consensus was to skip the well-care rider
(routine exams, shots and vaccines), since it is basically not worth the additional cost.
 
we have nationwide on our pup, but we decided to pay for the full up plan that covers 90% of EVERYTHING that comes up (when we did the math on the first year including neutering and puppy vaccines we would come out way ahead on ONLY the scheduled stuff). Once he reaches adulthood we may consider stepping it down to a cheaper plan, but having that peace of mind when he gets into trouble (as puppy inevitably do at some point) is worth it to us. Our vet submits everything for us so all we have to do is cash the reimbursement check when it comes in. Nationwide also offered up a 'pet perks' (or something similar) credit card to go with the policy which gives you a % back on all vet bills and pet store purchases, and is 4 or 6 months interest free on all vet bills, so if it takes them a couple weeks to reimburse you the vet bill its NBD since there is no interest on it.
 
We had 24 petwatch, they got bought out and raised the rate from $25 per month to $75.00. They did pay out $1300.00 on a claim but the process wasn't wonderful, it was "send in your stuff and we'll decide" which wasn't fun. I'd do some comparison.
 
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