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Pet insurance is essential for all responsible pet owners. It prepares you financially to deal with any unexpected (and expensive) accident or illness. This is why we regularly review the top pet insurance companies to find out who comes out on top.
This time, we’re putting 2 of our top-rated insurers in the ring: Healthy Paws vs Petplan to see which plan is a better value and the best fit for you and your pup.
Visit Healthy Paws’ Website | Visit Petplan’s Website
Policy Coverage
We find it often helps to compare 2 companies side by side to see how they stack up. Below is a pet insurance comparison table to help show you some differences and similarities between Healthy Paws and Petplan.
| Healthy Paws | Petplan | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Ranking in our Pet Insurance Reviews | 1st | Not Ranked |
| Blood Tests |  | |
| MRI | | |
| Rehabilitation | | |
| Surgery | | |
| Hospitalization | | |
| Emergency Care | | 20% copay unless it's life threatening (covered at 100%) |
| Specialty Care | | |
| Exam Fees | | |
| Pre-Existing Conditions | ||
| Check-Ups, Vaccinations, Spay/Neuter, Teeth Cleaning | ||
| Non-Routine Dental Treatment | | |
| Hip Dysplasia Waiting Period | 12 Months | 6 Months |
| Chronic Conditions | | |
| Illnesses Waiting Period | 15 Days | 15 Days |
| Accidents Waiting Period | 15 Days | 15 Days |
| Hereditary Conditions | | |
| Congenital Conditions | | |
| Diagnostic Treatment | | |
| Behavioral Therapies | | |
| Alternative/Holistic Therapy | | |
| Prescription Medications | | |
| Enrollment Fee | $25 | |
| 30-Day Money Back Guarantee | | |
| Claim Limits | Unlimited | $2,500, $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, $25,000 or Unlimited |
| BBB Rating | A+ | A+ |
| Underwriter | Westchester Fire Insurance Company/Chubb | XL Specialty Insurance Company |
| A.M. Best Rating | A++ | A |
| No Exam Required to Set Baseline for Pet's Health |
As you can see, Petplan covers behavioral therapies and exam fees. It also has a shorter waiting period for hip dysplasia, which is why we think it has slightly better coverage than Healthy Paws.
Winner: Petplan
Customer Service & Reputation
Both Healthy Paws and Petplan have excellent customer service. Ultimately, it comes down to Petplan having a few more negative reviews from 2016 to 2017 due to a change in underwriters. This resulted in price increases for existing customers, and Petplan received an influx of negative feedback.
Since then, Petplan has bounced back, and customers have come to terms with their new premium prices, but we give Healthy Paws the nod here since it’s been more consistent in recent years with customer feedback.
Winner: Healthy Paws
Timeliness Of Claim Repayment
Petplan averages 5 to 14 business days for claim repayment but allows up to 30 days. Healthy Paws repays 99% of claims in 2 days. Healthy Paws is slightly better here with a max timeline of 10 days, which is why it wins this category.
Winner: Healthy Paws
Price Of Policy
We found it super helpful to look at some examples of specific dog quotes for pet insurance, but always keep in mind that every insurance quote is different based on your particular location, breed, age and more. So, to make sure you understand the price differences for YOUR PET, be sure to run a quote from at least 3 companies to compare and contrast pricing and what each covers to make sure you’re getting the most out of your policy.
Characteristics considered for these quotes:
- Yorkshire Terrier, female 4 months old
- No microchip, multi-pet discount or pre-existing conditions
- Residency in Columbus, Ohio (43205)
- Quote is from December 16, 2019
| Deductible | Reimbursement % | Annual Maximum | Price Per Month | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Healthy Paws | $250 | 80% | Unlimited | $19.60 |
| Petplan | $250 | 80% | Unlimited | $36.26 |
| Healthy Paws | $250 | 90% | Unlimited | $24.41 |
| Petplan | $250 | 90% | Unlimited | $43.59 |
Healthy Paws is much less expensive than Petplan. When we ran additional pet insurance quotes, Petplan tended to fall in the middle or toward the more expensive side, while Healthy Paws was consistently among the least expensive.
Winner: Healthy Paws
Coupons
Healthy Paws
Petplan
When Does Pet Insurance Matter?
It’s estimated that 6 million dogs and 6 million cats are diagnosed with cancer every year. See how Healthy Paws pet insurance has helped Baxter get much-needed cutting-edge treatment for his cancer.
What’s The Verdict?
In the end, Healthy Paws is our winner, but Petplan puts up a great fight with excellent coverage and customer service. As always, we suggest you run quotes for your specific pet. Although Healthy Paws is our winner here, we think if you choose Petplan, you’ll be pleased with your experience as well.
Winner: Healthy Paws
Obviously, there are other pet insurance companies out there beyond our heavyweights. Feel free to see how they stack up against Healthy Paws and Petplan in our large pet insurance reviews article.
Do you have an experience with either Healthy Paws or Petplan you’d like to share?
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Another disappointed customer:
Yup… I have been with PetPlan (minus a couple year break) since probably 2010-2011. I went through the rate increase but I loved the coverage and I knew that they always took good care of me. I also attributed my rates to having a pure breed boxer. I expected to pay more and they were there for me when she got cancer. I did not have to put my dog to sleep because of money issues. They even sent me a check almost 1 year later that they had “missed” some how. They were great back then.
So when I got my mixed breed rescue dog I was happy to have a much lower rate. However, things have drastically changed. My rates have more than doubled! Then they are subtracting a non-claim “discount” so you only have to pay roughly a 48% increase (as long as you continue not to use the insurance). That is super shady.
Here is an example. My cat, he’s probably 8 years old, healthy youngish cat. His rate last year was $360. This year it’s going to be $536. Now that’s not all. Because I have never used the insurance there is a discount of $227.20. Ahh that wouldn’t be so bad if it were coming off the $536 but it’s not. The real rate is actually $757. So my rate is going from $360 to $757 but I only have to pay $536 because I haven’t used the insurance. What is that about. Is that supposed to make me feel better about paying 48% more than last year. So what happens if I need to use the insurance. I have paid 48% more in my premium, I can look forward to paying my $300 deductible plus I can look forward to paying double my rate next year. Um.. this was another case of new underwriter I believe and I don’t know who is managing this transition but it is shady shady shady! I too am going to take on the risk of potential pre-existing conditions and look elsewhere for coverage.
I can’t imagine this isn’t going to rip through the petplan community. I typically expect an increase so I don’t usually bother reviewing the letter before renewal so this was able to slip by me and get onto my credit card. Nowhere was there any warning clearly stating HEY YOUR PREMIUM IS GOING UP ALMOST 50% or more.. That is a change that should have been forcefully communicated. Not hid in a pdf file that you have to go find and read through. I’m on auto-pay, auto-renewal for a one time annual amount. Ouch! Now I feel so bad because I recommend this plan to so many people. My neighbor just had a bad experience with them too (my recommendation) but before I caught wind of these changes in fees so it didn’t make sense to me at first. I’m shocked. This is bad business. There are much better ways to get people to pay more. Oh and my deductibles all went up too. Did I mention I haven’t used either of the two policies I have. One is at least 3 years old and the other at least 2.
Here’s a thought.. I believe insurance companies in general make good money. So why not fund some research or education so that we can foster smarter pet owners and more science for healthier pets or help with legislation to ban puppy mills that put so many sick and overbred dogs into the community. Then maybe there would not be such a draw on the insurance company and keep our premiums reasonable. It’s already a hard sell to many pet owners out there. I work in dog rescue so I know. It’s not going to fly if it is so expensive. Just a thought.
Lost faith in PetPlan after many years. For what it’s worth 3 have had 3 great pyrenees on PetPlan over the last 10 years. At one point we were paying almost $2K/yr for our oldest and he ended up having ~$1,500 in claims over the lifetime of the policy. However, our youngest required bilateral CBLOs and had complications. Even though PetPlan did reimburse $18K, they sent me a letter stating they were “adjusting” his policy from an unlimited 90% plan at $830/yr to $15K max 70% plan at $750/yr and that was the max they were willing to cover. Even though we will have pre-existing conditions, we are leaving pet plan on principle. If they increased our rates like we expected they would have recouped some costs and now they just have a large loss. I can’t see how this business decision makes sense.
Hopefully this helps someone else on the fence between PetPlan and other insurance providers. Choose wisely, as you can’t move from one insurer to another once you’ve had an issue without getting slapped with pre-existing conditions limitations.
I currently have Pet Plan and I have really not been happy with them. One of the main reasons is because more recently, they increased our deductible from $200 to $450, which is also per incident without notifying us of the change nor reducing our monthly premiums. We were quite surprised to find out that after our dog had to have a procedure done following a dog bite to his neck that because of the dramatic increase in the deductible, we would be receiving no reimbursement. At $450 per incident, I am starting to think that Pet Plan is really not worth the monthly premiums at all.
I have been highly considering switching to Healthy Paws after reading the reviews on this site. Some of the most intriguing aspects of Healthy Paws is that the deductible is annual, instead of per incident, which makes a massive difference compared to Pet Plan. I am surprised you didn’t mention that Pet Plan’s deductibles are per incident above, as it makes a huge difference.
I sincerely appreciate the information about all of these different insurance options. It looks like we are definitely going to need to move on from Pet Plan, which seems to virtually cover nothing and has now made it even more difficult with the new deductible that we didn’t find out about until we made a recent claim because they never notified us. Healthy Paws seems to be the best option, based on the pros and cons that you talk about in your review.
Thanks for the heads up! Hopefully, they will be much more helpful for both our pets and wallets!
All the best!
Hi Howie,
I’m sorry to read you are not happy with Petplan. I understand that you have experienced some changes in your policy that you do not find beneficial. In many cases we are able to address the concerns you have with the cost of the policy after reviewing in more detail all of the options available to you. Would you be willing to speak with us over the phone to discuss all of your options? Please email us at socialmedia@gopetplan.com your phone number and policy number and I will be sure to have a Petplan team member contact you to review your options.
They did the same thing to me! I only discovered it when I went to view our cat’s policy online. I called them immediately and, even though they made the change without notifying me, they said they could not make a change to the deductible until my next renewal. She compared it to “open enrollment” on a human policy. In effect, they are forcing me to change companies to get the insurance I want for Lily! Oh well, life goes on 🙂
Hi David, I saw your post and have asked a Petplan team member to follow-up to review your request and see if we can resolve the issue you are having.
I have an older dog (9 yrs.) who has never been insured. I want to get some now. Any thoughts on best price for older dog?
Great question Suzanne! This article has some sample quotes, but we always tell our readers to run quotes from our top three picks with their dog’s specific characteristics. At this time, Healthy Paws, Petplan and Pets Best are in our top three. You’ll notice the link I attached above in this comment has an area where you can put in your details to get a free quote from each company. Pricing can vary based on location, breed, age, pre-existing conditions, etc. I don’t know the specific details of your dog, but with your dog being 9 years old Healthy Paws would have some limitations. Dogs insured through Healthy Paws after their 8th birthday are limited to a 60% reimbursement and $750 annual deductible. If these limitations are okay with you, we recommend considering them. However, as I stated previously, we also recommend looking into Petplan and Pets Best. Petplan recently changed underwriters which has raised their prices for customers, so you may see in your dog’s quote that the price for Petplan is higher. Please let me know if you have any further questions and best of luck!
We are currently looking in to switching to Healthy Paws since our Petplan costs are increasing. The biggest difference for us is that Petplan charges a “per condition” deductible of $300 (it’s $48 per month if you’d like an annual deductible), and Healthy Paws has an “annual” deductible of $250 with much lower rates. Based on all of the reviews that I have read, I think we’ll be switching!
Just had to comment here because I just happened to mention it in a comment myself. I can’t stand that Pet Plan charges a hefty deductible per condition, which I am not sure if you noticed that they recently increased from $200 to $450 without notifying anyone. It seems virtually impossible to get reimbursement from Pet Plan and we have been with them for nearly two years.
Since we recently adopted a second dog (10-month-old Beagle mix), we are highly considering a switch to a different company that is more reasonable to have them both covered. I am personally thinking about going with Healthy Paws based on the things I am reading.
I hope it works out better for you as well. I will try to drop by with an update once we switch to let others know if it makes a significant difference and improvement.
Pet Plans new policies are annual deductible. I had them for both my goldens. Our older girl, was diagnosed with mammary cancer in July. At that time her policy had the per incident deductible, so that did bite us. The did how ever pay promptly, and the customer service was great. She has since passed away and we have another golden rescue. I am in the process of deciding to stay with Pet Plan or switch both dogs to Healthy Paws. Cost is about the same for either company. I sure wish I could switch my boy to the annual deductible at Pet Plan, but was told I have to wait until renewal. Decisions, Decisions
You can’t go wrong with either of those companies – Healthy Paws doesn’t have annual payout limits but Petplan has been around a bit longer so deciding between the two basically comes down to the best price for your given pet (breed and age).