Pet Insurance Research Guide

I get daily Google Alerts on pet insurance. A frequent question being asked by pet owners, especially those with new pets, is, "What is the best pet insurance company?" Veterinarians have told me that their clients tell them that they don't know how to do the necessary research in order to pick the best company or policy for their pet. Therefore, they ask their veterinarian for advice on picking a company. Some veterinarians may be knowledgeable enough to do that, but many aren't. They may have some brochures that a company sent them to give to clients, but not actually know much about the company.

Although I've written a book to help pet owners learn more about pet insurance and even have some tools in the book to help them research pet insurance companies, I felt like I needed to actually demonstrate how to do the research. Therefore, I've written a  Pet Insurance Research Guide that you can get by clicking the link in the sidebar of this blog. It has live links that will help speed up your research. You can download it to your computer.

I would appreciate feedback from those of you who use it. A discussion on how to find the best company and policy will benefit all pet owners. What criteria do you think is the most important to you and why?

My book has much more detailed information and explanation about each company and its policies. Therefore, the Special Report isn't meant to take the place of the book, but to supplement the book. It can be confusing trying to sort through all the details about each company and policy. I've tried to do a lot of that for you in the book. 

You need information about all the companies - not someone's opinion about which companies are the top 3 or top 5.

Comments

[Andrea in the Adirondacks]

We have 24PetWatch for our 3 Great Danes and 3 cats. I am on the QuickCare Complete for the dogs and QuickCare Gold for the cats. Since enrolling in 24PetWatch in March 2009, I have already used it twice for one of my Great Danes. The reimbursement check comes quickly within 10 days, and so far I like this coverage because it covers hereditary defects and diseases.

[Dr. Doug Kenney]

Thanks, Andrea. I'm glad that you are happy with your selection. I think those two policies are 24PetWatch's best ones. Please keep in touch with us about your experiences down the road. Again, I appreciate your willingness to contribute to the blog.

[Joe]

Dr. Kenney,

I read through your special report and I was hoping that you might clarify one point that I think might be unintentionally misleading. I'm currently evaluating PetPlan verses Embrace for a 1 year old cocker spaniel. We had VPI because my company gets a 5% discount (I didn't know any better at the time). I haven't had any problems with them so far and actually got reimbursed more than I payed in premiums, but I can see how in the long run it's not the best plan if something major were to happen.

That said, I purchased a PetPlan with the $200 deductible and 10% coinsurance. Afterwards I realized it wasn't an annual deductible and contacted them by phone. According to their rep it's not a per-incident deductible either. They claimed it's a "per-condition" deductible. The example he cited was that if my dog were to get two ear infections in the same year, I'd get hit with that deductible twice! If my understanding was correct, that'd be a good thing if the dog got a long-term illness like diabetes because I'd pay it only once and he'd be covered for the lifetime that I have coverage. But for more common issues, a higher deductible with PetPlan seems like it wouldn't be cost effective. The Embrace model with a simple annual deductible is much simpler to evaluate, especially for young dog who likely won't have any serious health illnesses for at least a few years. If a chronic condition like diabetes were to occur then a lower annual deductible would make sense (contrary to your advice in the report).

So I was hoping you might offer your opinion on this because both companies have gotten very good reviews but their models seem to be polar opposites. It seems like Embrace is a better option if your pet has many non-related afflictions that aren't chronic throughout it's life span and PetPlan might be better in the opposite scenario. Another way to think of it is that Embrace might be better for younger dogs and PetPlan for older dogs. Your thoughts on that analysis?

Also, I'm skeptical about the premium you cited for PetPlan. For a 1 year old cocker spaniel I was quoted $656 annually for the $50 deductible and 90% coinsurance "bronze" plan (based on NY/Long Island area). The $445 premium that you cite was most similar to the $200 deductible/90% coinsurance plan "gold" plan. Perhaps regional differences are to blame for the discrepency or beagles (your example) are expected to have fewer health issues in their lifetime than cocker spaniels, warranting a lower premium.

Thank you very much for taking the time to put together this blog and also your insurance comparison.

[Dr. Doug Kenney]

Joe,

You are right that generally the annual deductible is better especially if you have several unrelated claims throughout the year. How companies handle a "per-incident" deductible may vary. Generally, the terms "per-incident" and "per-condition" are the same and interchangeable. However, the per-incident deductible may renew and start over from one year to the next while with another company, you may not have to pay another deductible in succeeding years if you are dealing with the same chronic condition. You just have to ask the company how they handle that.

To me, the most limiting factor, besides what's not covered in a policy, is a "per-incident" maximum. I can live with and accept a low per-incident deductible as long as the policy is acceptable and good otherwise. If a pet owner buys a policy with a high per-incident deductible, they must be aware of what they are buying and that their out-of-pocket expenses can be greater if they have several unrelated claims in a year.

The main purpose of the Research Guide is to magnify some glaring weaknesses that some policies have e.g. having to file a large claim. It was the best way I knew to show this to pet owners. Embrace also has it's limitations on chronic conditions. If you want to compare PetPlan and it's per-incident deductible with Embrace and it's annual deductible, pick out several sized claims and plug them into the calculations to get the effect of having multiple deductibles in a given year. Remember that the Research Guide takes into account the premium too. I am soon coming out with an automated way to calculate out-of-pocket expenses to make it easier for pet owners.

You are also correct in that the region of the country and breed of the pet can greatly influence the premium.

Thanks for pointing this out for discussion.