If you’ve decided it would make sense to have buy pet insurance, the next step is to figure out how to buy pet insurance for your pet. Here are some tips for how to buy pet insurance.

A good place to start is to ask your veterinarian if there is a company that he or she recommends. Just like your doctor, your vet will most likely have a “favorite” insurer based on personal experience, a company that offers good coverage and reimburses promptly without a lot of arguments.

Pet Insurance Companies

The most prominent pet insurance companies are VPI (Veterinarians Pet Insurance), Pets Best Insurance, Petcare Pet Insurance, Embrace Pet Insurance, PetPlan Pet Insurance and PurinaCare® Pet insurance. These companies are much like the companies that insure our health, they offer very different plans with different annual limits, deductibles and monthly premiums. This means the burden is on you to compare pet insurance plans before making a purchase decision. It is also important that you read the different pet insurance plans very carefully to make sure you choose the right plan at the right cost.

Insurance Caps, Deductibles and Co-Pays

In addition to comparing pet insurance plans based on monthly premiums, it is important to compare factors such as caps, deductibles and co-pays. For example, Company A may have a pet insurance plan that costs less than Company B but requires co-pays, while Company B has no such requirement. You will need to know if the pet insurance plans you are considering have deductibles and annual or lifetime caps.

If you have a dog or cat with hereditary problems or a pre-existing condition, you need to know the condition would be covered or excluded. For example, retrievers and German Shepherds often have hip dysplasia problems that most companies exclude. If your dog is one of these breeds, it’s important to know whether or not hip problems are excluded from the plan.

Some other factors you should consider before making the decision to buy pet insurance from a specific company is:

  • If you have multiple pets, does the company offer a discount for buying insurance for several pets?
  • Will the insurance premiums increase as your pet gets older and, if so, by how much?
  • Will the pet insurance plan continue to cover your pet throughout its life?
  • Is the plan all-inclusive? Some pet insurance plans cover routine care such as shots, and spaying or neutering. Other plans might have a higher deductible and cover only emergency procedures. All-inclusive plans generally cost more than emergency coverage. Before you buy pet insurance, it is important to know exactly what is covered and what is not.
  • Are you required to visit a vet in the insurer's network or are you free to choose the vet yourself?
  • How are insurance claims handled – do you file the claim or does your vet?
  • Is there a waiting period from the time you sign up for the policy? Most pet insurance plans have a one to 14 day waiting period from the time you fill out the application until the time the plan goes into effect. Some pet insurance plans require that you take the pet to a veterinarian for a checkup and submit the results before the policy becomes active.
  • How is a claim processed or paid? In most cases, you will need to pay your veterinarian, and will then be reimbursed by the insurance company. This is different from the way most of our health plans work and could mean you might be out of pocket for $1,000 or more for several weeks until you are reimbursed. This also brings up the issue of how long it takes for you to be reimbursed for a claim?
  • Most companies reimburse based on national averages, but the costs could be higher in your area. You might want to check to see what the company would reimburse for an office visit vs. what your vet actually charges.
  • Is the company registered with your state regulators?
  • What kind of payment options are available? Does the plan you’re considering offer a monthly, quarterly or annual payment plan? Does the company accept credit cards, checks or both?
  • What conditions are excluded by the policy? As noted above, many policies contain exclusions for pre-existing conditions or hereditary problems. If your pet has one of these issues, Embrace Pet Insurance offers plans with no exclusions.

Working out the issues of how to buy pet insurance is not a simple process. You need to do your homework and some basic math to see if it makes sense for you to buy pet insurance. A recent analysis by Consumer Reports concluded that people that buy pet insurance actually spent more on their pets than people without insurance. The reason for this could be that the people who purchased pet insurance may be much more conscientious pet owners than the average and are more likely to spend money on their pets.

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