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What is Pet Health Insurance?

Pet health insurance providers have become more well-known over the past decade, making many dog owners, cat owners and owners of other animals to reflect on getting coverage for their animal. But with much policy options and several insurance companies offering coverage, the assortment procedure can turn out to be a bit overwhelming.

Pet Insurance companies like Veterinary Pet Insurance, Inc. (also known as VPI) or the ASPCAs Insurance Company, offer reasonably priced insurance policy premiums for cats, dogs, birds, exotics and other pets. VPI puts forward a selection of coverage options, allowing pet owners to manage to pay for care and measures that they may otherwise have to miss out on.


Pet owners can decide on from an assortment of insurance coverage options, counting the subsequent:

1. Routine care coverage: This variety of coverage will cover a major part of routine pet care, such as immunization and yearly examinations. This form of policy is normally the slightest pricey, despite the fact that owners ought to make certain that the price tag of the veterinary insurance policy premium does not go beyond the usual routine pet care expenses.

2. Basic coverage for specialized care and procedures: Basic care policy will cover the overheads of examinations and procedure that drop outside the extent of routine care. So an arrangement of this variety will not cover vaccines or yearly examinations, nevertheless it will cover portion of the costs connected with diagnostic testing, visits to veterinary specialists, operations and other procedures.

3. Premium coverage for specialized care and procedures: These higher care plans on average offer coverage for the similar procedures and testing as the basic care plans, despite the fact that the recompense level is higher. The premium is also faintly higher to pay compensation for the greater proportion of reparation.

4. All -inclusive coverage: An all-inclusive coverage pet insurance policy normally covers routine care and specific care like diagnostic testing, visits to veterinarian specialists and remedial procedures. All-inclusive veterinary pet insurance policies are naturally the priciest. Regrettably, the immense preponderance of veterinary insurance companies does not disburse for procedures and additional care up-front.

The pet owner characteristically has to pay the vet bill up-front, and the cash is then reimbursed in a week or two of the claim form submission. But in cases where its a matter of life or death, a lot of vets will agree to the pet owner to pay just a fraction of the bill, allowing the pet parent to make preparations for the insurance settlement check to be sent straightforwardly to the clinic, in that way clearing what’s left of the balance.

There is also typically a two-week wait before pet coverage becomes effective, so when purchasing a veterinary pet insurance, pet owners should be sure to in quire about the wait period before the policy goes into effect.

There is no question about the need of the pet health insurance. More than its disadvantages, it offers more benefits not only for the pet but also for its owner. However, no matter how important pet health insurance are, owners should not jump into getting one without conducting enough research.

Researching about pet health insurance will not only ensure that you will get the best healthcare for your pet but can also help you save up some money to attend to other needs of the pet.

Why You Should Consider Pet Insurance For Your Family Pet

 If you have ever wonder about the benefits of insuring your family pet, then you may want to consider the following pointers as to why you should consider pet insurance for your family pet:

-> 1 in every 3 family pets will visit a vet this year for treatment
-> 40 percent of all vet fees are caused by unforeseen illnesses or accidents
-> less than 15 percent of family pets in the UK are covered by pet insurance
-> the average vet bill for care and attention needed following a road accident involving a cat or dog last year was circa. 750 – 1,000
-> 2 out of every 3 pet owners in the UK have admitted to having gone overdrawn at some time during their lives in order to pay for their pets vet bills.

All of these are fairly scary statistics. Theyre event more scary when you consider that will a simple family pet insurance policy, paying a minimum premium of somewhere between 25 and 75 (depending on the size of the pet), all of these are totally unnecessary.

If you want to get you pet insured and avoid any of these statistics happening to you, you can choose from:

Pet Accident Insurance

As the name suggests, with a pet accident insurance you are getting the basic minimum in pet insurance accident coverage. Under this policy the insurance company will reimburse you for all costs and expenses you incur caused as a result of your pet having been involved in an accident (unfortunately, more often than not, this means a road accident).

Pet Accident and Illness Insurance

With pet accident and illness insurance you get full coverage insurance; namely, your insurance company will agree to pay for all the costs and expenses incurred as a result of your family pet having suffered any illness or accident.

Excess Amount

One thing you do need to keep in mind when arranging your family pet insurance is the excess amount. As with all insurance policies, the excess amount is the amount you and the insurance company agree youll pay before you are entitled to claim against the insurance policy. While it is always a good idea to set an excess amount that would cover you for any mundane visits to the vet, so as to keep the premium down if nothing else, you dont want to se the excess too high that you end up having to pay for care and attention you thought would be covered by the pet insurance policy. It is, therefore, advisable that you have a look at some of your more recent vet bills and try and mind a medium between these sums so you have some idea of the excess before you set off arranging your family pet insurance.

Choosing the Right Pet Insurance Policies


Since pets are very vulnerable to diseases of several kinds, the expenses for treatment have been on a steady increase all the time. When the pets are insured properly, the expenses related to the medicine can be met easily without any problems with the costs. Pet insurance is available from various sources with lot of coverage plans and options. Pet insurance is available for injury treatments or sickness, while some plans that come under the category of deluxe plans are devised in such a way that it covers all type of illness. Some plans also offer routine care and examination of the pets. The pet insurance market has grown and become popular to the extent that they even cover dental care, acupuncture treatments and chiropractic care for the pets. Most of the insurance companies cover dogs and cats under the pet insurance plans. Now, a few companies are also offering pet insurance coverage for birds and exotic pets. When insuring pets like iguana, parrots, or potbellied pigs suitable plan and insurance company should be chosen to suit the needs of the pets.


Pet insurance policies or plans are also very similar to the health insurance coverage of human beings. There are limits for coverage, exceptions for pre existing illnesses, deductibles, co-pays etc. Normally pet insurance plans make the owners of the pets to pay the veterinarian bills and care taker bills before receiving any reimbursement. It is advised to avoid insurance companies, which have limited benefits on the pet insurance plans. When the price is set for a certain maximum level, the policy will only allow the pet owner to spend till the set limit regardless of the amount to be paid towards the medical expenses. This plan may entitle the pet owner with a low deductible, but calls for high co-pay, which will be more costly affair in the long run than the high deductibles with low co-pay charges.

Pet insurance information sources:

The best information about pet insurance can be got from the veterinarians. Either they may have the right plan or may recommend a right plan for the pet owner. Internet also can be a good source of information. While researching care needs to be taken to go through the policy of the insurance company regarding exclusion terms and conditions, benefits which can be got out of the insurance policy, their reputation, financial standing, history of disbursing money time taken for processing claims, etc.

There should not be any kind of fixed benefit schedule in the pet insurance policy as it may come with a low deductible and higher co pay costs, which will not be suitable for the pet owner. The policies should cover the diagnostic testing, MRI, Cat scans, X-rays, specialists, cancer treatments, hospitalizations, cost of medicines etc, after hour treatments, etc.

A Comparison of Five Pet Health Insurance Plans

It doesnt matter if you have already decided to purchase health insurance for the family pet or if you are simply. When you are comparing the quote of one health insurance quote to another remember that the base doller amount is not the only number you have to consider. In addition to the monthly payment make sure you also check out exactly what type of veterinary care and treatments are covered (some basic insurance plans do not include cancer treatment), what kind of deductible you, the pet owner, will be expected to pay, is there a yearly cap on medical expenses, and what type of discounts are available.
At the moment there are only a handful of companies that offer pet health insurance. Five of the most popular companies are Pets Best Pet Insurance, Veterinary Pet Insurance, ShelterCare, Pets Health and PetCare.


An insurance plan through Pets Best Pet Insurance will cost approximately $32.00 a month ($384.00 annually). Pets Best will cover pet sterilization provided the pet owner purchases an additional wellness plan. Pets Best does not cover pre-existing medical conditions a pet has so its best to insure them early in life before problems develop. Pets Best has a life time limit of $99,750 dollars per pet. Pets Best health insurance plans come with a $75.00 deductible. Multiple pet discounts are available. Pets Best pet health insurance does cover cancer.

Veterinary Pet Insurance is a company that offers pet owner a $14,000 a year cap on an insurance plan that only costs approximately $20.00 dollars a month. Veterinary Pet Insurance offers plans with a $50.00 deductible (after the deductible they pay ninety percent of the bill) on plans that include pet sterilization and cancer coverage. Veterinary Pet Insurance does not accept pre-existing conditions and does not offer multi-pet discounts.
ShelterCare is a pet insurance that cost pet’s owners approximately $29.95. For that $29.95 there is absolutely no deductible and cancer treatments are covered. ShelterCare will not pay for pet sterilization nor will they cover any pre-existing conditions. ShelterCare does not have a benefit cap. ShelterCare offers premium discounts for multi-pet plans, medical service, and micro-chips.

A pet health insurance policy through PetsHealth insurance company will cost the pet owner approximately $37.17 dollars per month. PetsHealth covers 80% of the pets vet bill after the $100.00 doller deductible is paid. PetsHealth has a $13,000 doller cap on each per year. PetHealth does insure pre-existing conditions after ninety days. Multi-pet discounts are available through PetHealth. PetsHealth does offer pet health insurance plans that cover cancer on a case by case basis.
PetCare is a pet health insurance company that estimates the average cost for a policy for a pet is $29.95 a month. This plan includes a fifty doller deductible. While PetCare is happy to cover the cost your pets cancer treatments they will not pay for any pre-existing conditions nor will they pay for pet sterilization. PetCare offers discounts for multi-pet plans and medical service.

None of the estimated monthly prices for these insurance companies include any extra insurances riders.

Any one or all of these companies can change their policies between now and the time you purchase a pet health insurance plan.

Remember to read the fine print before you sign up for a pet health insurance plan.

All five of these pet health insurance companies have their own websites where you can go to get up to date pet health insurance quotes.

There are other pet health insurance companies with different prices, discounts, stipulations, and benefit caps if you are not content with the previous five comparisons.