# Pet Insurance



## APERRY (May 7, 2015)

We are looking into pet insurance for our two Vs ages one year and 7 months. Any thoughts/recommendations/experiences to share? Any companies to steer clear of? Thanks all!


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

I'm not sure if you're in the US, but I've researched this a lot and it seems that Healthy Paws and Trupanion get the best reviews. I've not used either (but am constantly debating it!).


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## emilycn (Jul 30, 2013)

I have petplan and have never had any complaints with them.


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

I had Petplan... It is good however the deductible of $200 is per visit to the Vet... than they pay 80% of what is left.
Therefore, if your Vet visit is less than $200... you pay it all. ETC>

I Then moved to Embrace. total coverage with an ANNUL deductible of $200 /80%... Plus the matched a wellness account ... I loved it! But when my
renewal came around after 1 year... they had nearly doubled the premium. I called and they said it was the area I lived in and Calif. regulations,
I quit and now I have Healthy Paws... same ANNUL deductible now $250 / 80% but premium is 38$ per mo.

I had AKC ins for Foxy but only bought Accident Ins. well she contracted Valley Fever, which cost me $$$$$$$ and I never recouped a dime.
I learned my lesson.. the hard way, but I will never ever go with out Ins. again, and so far it has paid for itself every year... and I never hesitate to take the dog to the Vet, which is a great comfort!!!


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

I enquired with petplan and it was gonna cost me £80 per month, and that was just for Elvis, can't afford that so atm both dogs are uninsured


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## emilycn (Jul 30, 2013)

what unholy nonsense what what quote?! I just changed my plan with petplan to $200 deductible/90% reimbursement for about $30/month. I was on a $100 deductible with 100% reimbursement, but after running some numbers on the annual cost of the plan compared to the actual cost of a $300, $600, or $1200 vet bill after insurance, I decided on the new $200/100% plan. 

Here's the email I got from a petplan human when I was looking for some other quotes. The "silver" plan I was on reimburses up to $14,000 per year, the "bronze" plan reimburses up to $10,000. The quotes below appear as _Bronze/Percent Reimbursed/Deductible Per Injury: Annual Plan Cost_. (

(The "per injury" bit means that if Lua broke a leg, I would pay one deductible for all of the treatment related to that injury; if she got an ear infection or something, I would pay a second deductible again for all of the treatment related to that infection.)

_"Hello Emily,

I hope you and Lua are doing well! I will be happy to assist you. Right now, you are on the Silver plan with a $100 deductible and 100% reimbursement. Below, I have provided quotes for your pet:

Bronze/100/$50: $745.71
Bronze/100/$100: $543.98
Bronze/100/$200: $377.77

Bronze/90/$50: $614.93
Bronze/90/$100: $448.58
Bronze/90/$200: $311.52

Bronze/80/$50: $546.61
Bronze/80/$100: $398.74
Bronze/80/$200: $276.90

If you have any questions or would like to make any changes, please let me know and I will be happy to adjust your policy for you.
Is there anything else I can assist you with?
I hope you have a wonderful day!
Warmest wags"_

I haven't had any other insurance company, so I can't comment on petplan versus someone else, but I will say that I like their customer service, I like the flexibility to choose how much coverage you want, how big of a deductible you want, and what percent of the bill you want reimbursed after the deductible, and I've never had any of my claims questioned or payments delayed. Hope this was helpful for someone!


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

GET RID OF PETPLAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Correction... Per indecent... but that still means you are paying the first $200 each time you need the Vet.

The deductible. YOU must pay the deductible ... before they pay a penny!!

Go with a plan that has an ANNUL deductible...


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## emilycn (Jul 30, 2013)

I do appreciate your well-meaning advice, TK. 

Perhaps my policy is different than yours was, though... In my policy, the deductible it isn't per visit. It is per condition, illness, or injury. So for example, when Lua went back to the vet 3 times with the same skin infection, I paid the deductible once, and was reimbursed for everything else. As another example, when she went to the emergency vet and the follow-up at the regular vet for vaccine reaction, I paid one deductible that covered both visits. 

I think what we can take away from this discrepancy in our policies is just that we should encourage people to read their policies carefully so that they know what they're signing up for.

While I absolutely see the value of a annual deductible and would definitely recommend that people interested in insurance check out those plans, the annual deductible plans (at least as far as I've found) are considerably more expensive.


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## organicthoughts (Oct 9, 2012)

Pet insurance in Canada is a lot more expensive. I pay close to 60 dollars a month and the coverage is not nearly as good as what emilycn has.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

emilycn said:


> ...
> Bronze/80/$200: $276.90
> ...


I believe that insurance should be for catastrophes, not every day expenses, so I went to the PetPlan site and got a quote for $200 deductible & 80%, which would pay very little for the ordinary visits. My quote was $460.68 - 2/3 more than Emily's! Charlie is a little older than Lua, but not much. And I wouldn't expect Hartford's vet costs to be much different than Carlisle's. So why the big difference in premium?

Bob


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

And for Daisy, who is 3 years older than Charlie, the Bronze/80/$200 premium would be $682 - 48% more than Charlie's. Message here is get the insurance when your pup is young.


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## emilycn (Jul 30, 2013)

Eh... beats me, Bob. Impoverished grad student discount? For what it's worth, I did buy the plan when she came home at 8 weeks.


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## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

emilycn said:
 

> ... I did buy the plan when she came home at 8 weeks.


That's probably it, although it's not clear to me why it should be.

Bob


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## TexasBirdDog (Aug 30, 2017)

tknafox2 said:


> I had Petplan... It is good however the deductible of $200 is per visit to the Vet... than they pay 80% of what is left.
> Therefore, if your Vet visit is less than $200... you pay it all. ETC>
> 
> I Then moved to Embrace. total coverage with an ANNUL deductible of $200 /80%... Plus the matched a wellness account ... I loved it! But when my
> ...


I'm curious to know your opinion on the AKC insurance? I have a quote from them, but it's not far off from Healthy Paws which seems to be the consensus for the most favored insurance on the forum. From what I can tell, AKC has a maximum incident payout of $10,000 and a maximum payout of $16,000 annual. Healthy Paws states "Unlimited Maximum Payouts". I'm leaning towards Healthy Paws because it's slightly cheaper for the same deductible and reimbursement percentage. So really, I'm just curious about what your thoughts or anyone else's thoughts were on the AKC insurance?


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