What Does Pet Insurance Cover?

You should buy all the comforts of a creature to keep your best mate in good spirits: delicious delights, soft beds and a bunch of toys if you have an earthenware friend or a skinny friend living in your home.

Besides all the fun stuff, it is also a top priority to keep your pet safe. This means regular veterinarian appointments and medical care for your pet.

However, the cost of pets will rapidly increase. According to a National Pet Owner Survey from the American Pet Pet Products Association, a regular Vet visit costs about $212 for a dog and $160 for a cat. Your pet requires surgery, depending on the animal's health problem, and it costs a mean of $426 for a dog and $214 for a cat.

Pet insurance is one way to compensate for some of the healthcare expenses for pets. Whether a pet insurance policy is protected depends on the insurance provider and your pet.

What’s Covered by Pet insurance?

Health insurance covers a lot of pet medical costs. A comprehensive nose-to-tail package may be purchased that protects a variety of health issues. For instance, Nationwide Whole Pet with Wellness plan addresses these types of health-related issues if you want coverage for injuries, illnesses and wellness:

• Accidents and injuries, including intoxications, sprains and ACL breaks
• Chronic diseases include allergy, arthritis and skin problems
• General diseases like ears, vomiting and diarrhea
• Serious conditions such as cancer, cardiac conditions and diabetes
• Inherited diseases, eye defects and blood disorders are: hip dysplasia
• Diagnostics and testing including ray-X, MRI, CT scanning, blood testing and ultrasound
• Procedures such as surgeries, hospitalization, nursing, endoscopy and chemotherapy
• Holistic and alternative methods, such as acupuncture, chiropractic and laser treatment
• Wellness procedures like vaccines, flea/heartworm and spa treatments

The most costly options would be comprehensive pet insurance policies. You can buy a package with less benefits if you do not want a policy that includes all of the above. You may purchase a policy that only covers injuries and diseases, for example, or that only covers regular veterinary visits to checkups and vaccinations.

The purchase of a less covered pet insurance plan can be much cheaper. For example, Farmers Insurance sells a flat fee of 6 dollars per month for the cats and 9 dollars for the dogs, irrespective of breed, for "accident only." But be aware that you will bear the entire burden of any non-accident-related health costs under an accident-only scheme.

Summary Chart: What Pet Insurance Covers

Extras to Pet Insurance

You may add additional coverage with riders per link. For instance, Trupanion sells a pet owner assistance package covering non-veterinary issues such as advertising and losing pet benefits, boarding costs in case of inpatient hospitalization, cremation and death burial, and covering liability if a pet causes property harm.

What’s Not Covered by Pet Insurance?

Such general exclusions for pet insurance are as follows:

• Pre-existing conditions. It's a wound or disease before your pet begins coverage. Certain arrangements do not exclude pre-existing conditions indefinitely. For example, if you have a medical record showing that your pet has been healed for at least six months, Nationwide may increase its coverage.
• Experimental treatment. This includes diagnosis and procedures that are deemed to be experimental, research or not in the standard of care that the medical veterinary council of your state approves.
• Grooming. Pet insurance usually does not include bathrooms, dips, shampoos or nail trims, for example.
• Behavioral training such as pet obedience training.
• Food, dietary and nutritional supplements. Your pet's food costs are usually not covered except through a doctor's prescription.
• Non-veterinary expenses. This includes waste management, login or copying, any license or credential and compliance with government regulations or rules (such as dog registration).

Other exclusions can apply to your pet insurance plan. For example, you won't be responsible for medical costs if you purchased a pet insurance policy that only covers injuries.

Does Pet Insurance Cover Pet Liability?

What if your dog bites someone or damages the property of another? In general, the homeowners insurance covers these kinds of accidents. You can pay for medical costs and also for legal protection, for example, if your dog is kicking someone and you are sued.

You may be able through your pet insurance provider to obtain some liability protection. We evaluated, for example, a provision covering damages to property for others up to $25,000.

How Does Pet Insurance Work?

Pet insurance premiums are mostly refundable, which means that your pet can pay for medical costs in advance. You should bring your pet to your option of a licensed veterinarian and compensate him or her for any issues covered by the pet insurance plan.

Here is a case in point how a pet insurance claim works:

• You bring your pet with you to the veterinarian for a regular examination
• The veterinarian's account is paid
• You are presenting the  pet insurance provider with a copy of the invoice and medical history of the veterinarian
• Your  pet insurance provider will review your claim on the basis of the contract. Your insurer will process the claim and give you a refund if regular veterinary visits are covered.

 Pet insurance is generally not like people's medical insurance, which means you don't have to think about going to a veterinarian on the "network." Normally, with some exceptions, you should go to the vet of your choosing. Liberty Mutual, for example, provides a pet insurance scheme using networked veterinarians. One advantage of such a package is that only the deduction or copayment would be charged for a covered service from an in-network veterinarian. However, if you want an off-the-network veterinarian, you will have to pay the full costs for the services covered and then file a refund claim.

How Much Does Pet Insurance Cost?

There will be many factors in the cost of pet insurance, including:

• The type, gender and breed of animal. Some breeds are predisposed to some diseases, which usually cost more. For example, large breeds of dogs are more likely to have heart and hip problems and higher drug costs.
• The pet’s age. As your pet gets older, it is more likely to become sick, which in policy renewal periods can lead to higher pet insurance premiums. Some insurers, including Trupanion, are not going to increase the price because their pets are getting older.
• Pre-existing conditions. Your insurance company would still cover them, however, if your pet had already sustained an accident or illness.
• Your location. The plan price would be affected by areas that have higher veterinary costs.
• Coverage types. In contrast to a package that only covers regular vet visits, you will be paid for a comprehensive plan covering injury, disease and health.
• Deductible and reimbursement level. You are going to pay more for a higher amount of refunds and a smaller deductible. For example, a reimbursement plan that provides 90% would cost more than a reimbursement policy of 70%.

In general, insuring a dog is cheaper than insuring a cat. According to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, the annual average premium for accident and disease coverage for a dog in 2019 was around $585 compared with $350 for a cat.

Average Pet Insurance Premiums

Is it worthwhile for pet insurance?

Routine veterinary bills and medical costs due to injuries and disease can be expensive, and pet insurance can help compensate some of these costs.

For example, if your playful bag hunts a ball a little too hard and tears its hind ACL, you will have thousands of dollars in healthcare costs associated with operation. If you had $100 deductible and 90% refund coverage, you could end up paying $3,000 off-pocket surgery for just $400, or a deductible of $100 plus 10% of surgical costs=$400.

However if pet insurance will save you time in the event of a major accident or injury, it is still an inconvenience that you want to take into account. You can pay $5,000 in pet insurance fees when you pay an average of $500 annually for a ten-year period for accidents and health care coverage. Some animal hosts may choose to set aside money for a pet's medical needs in a savings account.

If you cannot save thousands of dollars for your pet, then your pet policy can be a safe way to prevent an accidental accident or disease from locking your credit card down for a large bill.

While the costs of pet insurance differ depending on many factors such as the age of your pet, breed and selection for coverage, the good news is that usually you will find a package covering some medical costs and fitting into your budget.