In the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about new puppies joining their forever families, so here’s another important question about what you prospective pup guardians should consider (and take care of) before the new pup is yours. Pet health insurance—should you get it? Should it be planned and purchased before your new pup’s arrival in your home?
I asked online friends to help new puppy guardians out with some basic, simple, wise advice, especially for those of you who have never purchased nor had pet health insurance.
My questions to these experienced pet guardians were:
Why is pet health insurance important, in your opinion?
Why is pet health insurance not the only choice, in your opinion?
Tell us about any good or bad experiences you have had with pet health insurance and how you feel about what happened.
Here are their answers, experiences, and opinions.
Kat Camplin (California) My eight-week-old puppy was in my house for a total of eight days when he tripped while running, which resulted in a soft-tissue injury to his hip. I was thankful for the insurance. The accident coverage started seven days after the start of the policy—I made it one day over! Medical coverage didn’t start for another week; however, the claim was initially processed as medical and denied. It took another three months of appeals to finally get it paid.
I’m not sure if policies exist that include both coverages at the same time. It’s the same with human dental insurance; preventative is covered immediately and major dental has a waiting period. For me, pet coverage should start when ownership is transferred. If you own them, you are in charge of medical treatment. I don’t know of ownership starting earlier. Even rescue groups don’t transfer until after spay/neuter. If the pup is boarding, that facility should cover any accidents or communicable illnesses.
Mandy Lorian (Wisconsin) I get pet insurance the minute I know I’m adopting a puppy/dog.
Ruth L. Heller DVM (Pennsylvania) Trupanion is the one my clients have had least issue with. Nationwide seems good also. It’s a good idea for those who can afford it and don’t have the discipline to set up a dedicated savings account early on in the pet’s life. If you can toss that premium money into savings that you DO NOT touch, it may be better for you. If you know you will tap it, insurance may be better. But pre-existing conditions are a very big deal, and companies will deny claims if they can.
Christine Hale Vertucci (Tennessee) I highly recommend pet insurance, especially BEFORE any findings that might be an issue. But even if your pet has pre-existing conditions that might not be covered, it’s helpful for other things that happen. When one of my dogs had a $8,000 emergency vet bill, I was grateful to know that we’d be reimbursed for most of it. It was heartbreaking to hear other pet owners make decisions based on their ability to pay for the care their pet needed.
Michael Curran (California) I have been happy with Lemonade. Fast coverage, easy claim process for both routine and emergency care.
Peggy Modjeski (Kentucky) I have Trupanion and I highly recommend it. The breeder of my first Picard had it on the litter. I purchased a plan that continued that coverage, before I even met the pup. I was so glad I did. Another of his litter was diagnosed with parvo after it went home. Thankfully, my pup didn’t get parvo, but I was really glad I had insurance. I traveled to pick him up, and if he had contracted anything on the way home he would have been covered. For me, it’s peace of mind. I want to be able to get the best care for my dogs and not have it be a financial decision. Trupanion is easy to work with and easy to submit claims to. They reimburse quickly.
Don Hanson (Maine) I added a section on pet health insurance to my puppy class in 2020 because of the dramatic increases we’re seeing in veterinary costs. The time to get it is before something happens. For example, a recent student’s 12-week-old pup required emergency surgery for consuming a sock. That will now likely be listed as a pre-existing condition by most providers. As for insurers, I encourage people to do their own research and to be wary of some breeders’, shelters’, and pet professionals’ recommendations. (Ask them if they are being compensated for their recommendation.) Also, there are alternatives such as special health saving accounts for pets. In my opinion, vets’ costs will only get higher as more clinics are purchased by corporations and venture capital groups.
Jill Kern (Rhode Island) I got insurance for both my dog and cat. My research suggested that it’s not cost-effective; it makes more financial sense to “self insure” by putting away money each month for pet health care. I knew I wouldn’t have the discipline. The reason I decided to get pet insurance is that I never wanted to hesitate to pay for expensive life-saving care.
Sue Brown (Colorado) We had Trupanion and dropped them at the end of 2023. First, they screwed up the coverage on one of my guys. They started over on the deductible even though our next visit was for the same issue. We contacted them, they said they would look into it. We contacted them again and they had never even started a case to look into it. So it took a few months to get things resolved. Finally. Then, before they resolved it, they sent the renewal for our other dog and were raising rates nearly 40%. Not very happy. Poor customer service and raising their rates so much? Nope. We switched to Figo. Just started it, so cannot say yet if we like them or not.
Shelly Keel (Idaho) I absolutely recommend pet health insurance for puppies! I had a Trupanion policy in place the day I picked up my then eight-week-old puppy, Journey, from the breeder. Besides having health coverage for her in general, the waiting period was waived since there was not a time lapse from the breeder and my possession. Having had many dogs, I’ve learned that anything can happen at any time, and the expense of medical care can make helping our dogs a challenge. Having selected a plan that does not cover well visits and vaccines but does cover illness and injury, with an extra rider for physical rehab if needed, I am so glad I had coverage out of the gate. My girl has had seasonal allergies and yeast-related problems that required intervention and many follow-up treatments over the course of the past two years. Recently, while going down a kids’ slide at the park (she loves the playground!), Journey completely tore a back foot toenail out, requiring an emergency visit, treatment, and antibiotics. The cost of caring for our pets—between food, grooming, enrichment objects, and health care—is not insignificant. I am glad I have an insurance policy to help make cost less of an issue when seeking medical treatment.
(Breeder photo of Journey at about six weeks, after her first bath.)
Photo courtesy of Shelly Keel
Gwen Jones (California) We have Pets Best for our two young ones. Have been happy with their coverage and communication and quick reimbursement. The premiums are affordable and the plan has covered 80% of all costs related to a benign but aggressive lipoma. Suits us just fine!
Teri Stripes (Washington) We have both had and discontinued pet insurances. Pets are very expensive—with and without insurance. It’s been seven years since we had insurance; things may have changed with the industry, so my pros and cons could differ if I were to shop for it again. My advice? Pet owners need to determine certain things before they encounter an emergency or diagnosis.
1. They need to know how they will approach life-saving measures, cancer treatments, and quality-of-life decisions before they ever have to face them. This will help them understand if they should have insurance or not.
2. If your pet is of a known breed, you will want to know the chronic illnesses often seen in that breed.
3. If it were you and not your pet with a diagnosis or an emergency, how would you like to be treated?
Pros: If your income is limited and you have to juggle paying for surprise needs/costs, insurance can give you comfort in knowing you’ll be able to meet unplanned emergencies. Some insurances do cover preventative medicine as well as emergency. Covered illnesses, for example, will be far less expensive because you have paid monthly premiums instead.
Cons: Many insurers carry breed exclusions because of known breed-specific chronic illnesses. Any past illness or diagnosis that reoccurs likely will not be covered, as it’s pre-existing. Less expensive plans have extremely high deductibles, and preventative medicine (also expensive) isn’t covered. Many insurers pay you through reimbursement—not directly to the vet on your behalf—so you will likely still need to cover the treatment when it’s given.
Example: We had two eight-week-old boxer puppies. I researched the insurance and felt we made the right decisions. Due to the breed’s being cancer-prone, that wasn’t covered. We were prepared to cover preventive medicine plus the out-of-pocket annual expenses of $1,000. Insurance reimbursed us for two illnesses we encountered, minus a deductible—very helpful when cash flow was tight. It reimbursed a toy extraction with abdominal surgery, minus the deductible for surgery/recovery, but it would not cover a second. After that first two years of insurance, I learned of Care Credit and decided that with savings and a Care Credit credit card we would be able to cover expenses and treatments.
Early on, we were aware of how cancer-prone boxers are and we made a family commitment that we would never put our puppies through chemo or extraordinary life-saving efforts. Our goal for the dogs was quality of life. If the vet felt a surgical option or medicine would remove the cancer or lengthen their lives by years, then that’s what we would do. If that was not the case, we would provide supportive care until our pups let us know it was their time to go. Over the years, each of our boxers had multiple small pea- to marble-sized skin tumors removed; testing showed no signs of cancer. After our two puppies grew up, we also adopted a third boxer and hospice-fostered a fourth. None of those four made it to their eleventh year, and each was lost to a terminal cancer.
How you decide beforehand to deal with terminal illnesses or life-threatening emergencies will help you make the best decisions about having insurance and, if that’s the way you go, which type. Being a responsible pet owner is not cheap. Medical and preventative care is costly. We are bringing home a new puppy in two weeks. Luckily for us, money is not as tight as it once was. In addition to preventative care, we will doubtless face unplanned expenses; today we can cover those out of pocket without long-term financial consequence. We also still believe in quality of life over quantity (number of years).
Lynne Petermann (New Jersey) I use Pets Best and have been happy.
Dale Ward (North Carolina) We use Fetch. They’ve been good; paid fairly and promptly.
Jim Mihalek (Minnesota) I would never be without insurance on my dogs again. An ACL tear, a blockage surgery, or a cancer diagnosis can cost thousands of dollars, and the money’s usually needed up front. Even if you have a dedicated savings account, once the funds are gone, they’re gone until you are able to replenish them. I do not want to be in the position of deciding on the care for my dog based solely on financial concerns. With insurance, I can make a more rational decision based on their well-being. Just because I have insurance doesn’t mean that I spend recklessly, either. I do not consider paying premiums a waste if I never use the insurance. It gives me peace of mind. I have house insurance, car insurance, and human health insurance. I hope that I never need to use them, but am darn glad they are there if I do. (I am using the health insurance a lot right now.)
It is important to get your puppy signed up as soon as possible, as pre-existing conditions do matter. Look for a plan with no annual or lifetime caps. Most require you to pay bills up front and then submit them for reimbursement, so you do need some kind of savings or reserved credit card initially.
I have had good experiences with insurance, starting with the first dog I had that was covered. Over three and a half years, her cancer, follow-ups, acupuncture, CLL, heart, and CCD treatments were all covered. I got way more back for her than I paid in. Even after her first big claims, premiums were not jacked up in response. They did slowly go up with the animal’s age, but that is expected. My current dog has been insured for nine years, and I think we have only gotten back about $500 in claims. That is okay. You never know what can be right around the corner.
What will your decision be? Research pet health insurance and sign up for your pick of policies before you bring your new pup home? Or decide that you will self-fund the pup’s future health care, plan how you will do that, and commit to follow through?
It’s an important choice; time will tell if you’ve made a wise decision.
