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Fido just leaped for a frisbee, and now he’s limping. What’s wrong with him? Do I need to take him to the vet? How much will it cost? This is why pet insurance is so critical. In a time of panic, you should be worrying about the health of your dog, not the number in your bank account.
We rate the biggest names in the pet health insurance industry based on our own research and provide you with a summary of what each company offers, as well as pros and cons for each. Feel free to click on the “Read Review” text below the company name in the table below to go straight to its review.
Top Pet Insurance Companies 2019
Visit Website Visit Website Visit Website Ranking 1st 2nd 3rd Total Score 4.65 4.55 4.50 Policy Coverage 4.25 4.75 4.50 Customer Service & Reputation 4.75 4.00 4.00 Timeliness Of Claim Repayment 4.75 4.75 4.75 Policy Price 4.75 4.75 4.75 Read Review Read Review Read Review
Total Score, Policy Coverage, Customer Service & Reputation, Timeliness Of Claim Repayment and Policy Price are all on a scale of 0 to 5.
Pet Insurance Cost & Coverage Comparison Tables
Our coverage comparison is relatively straightforward, but pricing comparisons can get complicated. Why? Pricing quotes are unique because they’re based on a pet’s age, breed, geographic location and several other factors.
For this reason, we encourage you to get quotes from multiple companies before deciding on a pet insurance provider. We’ve made this easy for you by creating a quote form that will pull quotes from top pet insurance companies when you fill out one short form with your pet’s details.
Get Free Pet Insurance Quotes
- Pet Insurance Cost Comparison*
- Pet Insurance Coverage Comparison
- Get Pet Insurance Price Quotes from Top Companies (FREE)
These links open comparison tables in a new window so you can compare coverage and estimated costs side-by-side as you research company reviews. If you’re unsure where to start, be sure to read our beginner’s dog insurance guide.
*You should expect annual increases on your premiums from any pet insurance company. These rates and increases will vary based on your location, changes in vet costs and more.
Healthy Paws Review
| #1 |  |
Healthy Paws continues to impress us with its unlimited benefits with no per-incident, annual or lifetime caps. This company also has far fewer coverage exclusions compared to many competitors, so it appears that Healthy Paws is less likely to deny your claim.
You can also customize your out-of-pocket expense risk by adjusting your policy’s reimbursement rate (70%, 80% or 90%) and deductible ($100, $250, $500 or $750) when you sign up. There are some restrictions on the reimbursement and annual deductible amounts for pets, depending on the age when they’re enrolled.
Healthy Paws has excellent customer service reviews. Check out the comment section in our Healthy Paws individual review. It’s filled with real customer accounts.
What’s missing with Healthy Paws? It doesn’t offer a wellness plan to cover annual vet visits, which is an increasingly popular feature among pet parents.
Overall, we think Healthy Paws is the best-bet for pet insurance. It has some of the best coverage and at one of the least expensive monthly premiums. If you do run into any hiccups, we’re sure you’ll get the help you need with its excellent customer service.
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Coupon Code
Use this link and you will automatically receive up to a 5% discount. The actual discount varies based on individual state regulations. You can also visit our dedicated HealthyPaws promotions page to discuss current offers.
Read Our Full Review Of Healthy Paws
Pets Best Review
| #2 |  |
Pets Best has stepped it up with the items it covers in addition to its low-priced “Accident-Only Plan.” This unique policy allows you to insure against unexpected pet emergencies without charging you monthly for the lower priced (vet exams) or less-likely costs (rehab, chiropractic and acupuncture care).
Pets Best was consistently among the least expensive pet insurance companies when we ran quotes. We’re also impressed with its average claim repayment of 5 days, and it has a 24/7 Pet Helpline, which allows you to speak with a vet expert any time of day.
Its deductibles range from $50 to $1,000, and it offers 2 wellness plans from which to choose. You can truly customize your coverage with Pets Best. Pets Best doesn’t require an exam to set your pet’s health baseline (something Healthy Paws requires).
What kept it from being #1? Pets Best has one of the same underwriters (American Pet Insurance Company or APIC) as Trupanion (another pet insurance company), which is unrated by A.M. Best. We consider this a higher risk factor vs. those who are rated.
However, we can’t dispute Pets Best’s low prices and excellent coverage, which is why we feel it deserves a spot in our top 3.
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Coupon Code
Pets Best offers two discounts that you may be eligible for when you use this link :
- 5% multi-pet discount
- 5% discount for military members and their families
View Our Full Review Of Pets Best
Figo Review
| #3 |  |
Figo is the newest pet insurance company in our comparison. We’re impressed with its coverage details, and it’s the only company in our comparison to offer a 100% reimbursement option. You can submit claims through the app, fax, email or mail.
Should you run into any issues, you can reach Figo by phone, text, live chat, email, fax, Facebook Messenger or Twitter. Its waiting periods are comparable to competitors, although anything regarding the knees has a 6-month waiting period (many others have shorter waiting periods).
It’s not common for a newcomer to enter our top 3 its first year in our reviews, so it speaks volumes that Figo has come out so strong. It has some of the lowest prices, comparable to companies that have been around much longer.
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Coupon Code
Our readers have access to an exclusive 5% off a new FIGO pet insurance policy, just use this link to get started.
Other Pet Insurance Companies
The companies listed below did not make our top three rankings, but we’ve reviewed them in case you want to learn more. Every pet and every situation is different. You might find an excellent fit for your family below.
Note: We’ve excluded companies with less than 5 full years of nationwide business experience from this ranking so we can provide reliable recommendations.
24PetWatch | AKC | ASPCA/Hartville | Embrace | Nationwide | PetFirst | Petplan | Trupanion
24PetWatch Review
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24PetWatch, founded in 2000, offers pet insurance for dogs as long as you enroll them before the age of 10 years old. In the quotes we ran, 24PetWatch was consistently among the more expensive options (but you get a lot of value for the price so could be worth it).
It also doesn’t offer unlimited claims as an option, which is a feature we’ve come to expect from pet insurance providers. However, one cool thing 24PetWatch does is to provide coverage for chronic conditions if your pet has gone 24 months symptom-free. This is not standard for pet insurance providers.
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Coupon Code
There are no active 24PetWatch coupon codes at this time.
Read Our Full Review Of 24 Pet Watch
AKC Pet Insurance Review (aka PetPartners)
AKC Pet Insurance, a PetPartners brand founded in 2003, doesn’t require vet records or an exam prior to enrollment. It has strict age restrictions and requires an additional fee for coverage of hereditary and congenital conditions, which we expect the average pet insurance plan to include.
It has more limitations compared to other pet insurance providers and only covers hip dysplasia for dogs enrolled prior to their second birthday. For all of these reasons, AKC is not in our top 3.
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Coupon Code
There are not any active AKC Pet Insurance coupon codes at this time.
Read Our Full Review of AKC Pet Insurance
ASPCA Insurance / Hartville Pet Insurance Review
Visit ASPCA Website / Visit Hartville Website
Unfortunately, when looking through the overall features of ASPCA and Hartville pet insurance, we cannot highly recommend either brand.
It’s important to note that C&F Insurance Agency, the administrators of the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance program, pays a royalty fee to the ASPCA for the use of its mark through a licensing agreement. C&F Insurance Agency also administers Hartville, which has an identical offering to that of ASPCA pet insurance but is not affiliated with the ASPCA organization.
The company, founded in 1997, has a history of low reimbursements, even under its highest cost plan.
There is an emergency hotline available for claim estimates, which is available during and after normal business hours. You can find out how much of your pet’s treatment will be covered and get an estimate on the payout.
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Coupon Code
There are no active ASPCA Pet Health Insurance coupon codes at this time.
Read Our Full Review Of ASPCA Pet Insurance
Embrace Review
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Embrace has great customer support options and a rather good reputation overall. When it comes to monthly premiums, Embrace can be all over the board, so we recommend getting an individual quote for your pet.
Regarding claims, Embrace says it averages 5 business days and pays 40% within 2 business days. Embrace tends to fall a little behind on technology for claims submissions versus the top players in this field.
Tip: If you have USAA, you can get a discount with Embrace.
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Coupon Code
Embrace offers a few different discount options. Spayed or neutered pets get a 5% discount. if you have multiple pets, each one gets 5% off. You can also pay annually and get 5% off. Click here to access any of these discounts.
Read Our Full Review Of Embrace
Nationwide Review
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Nationwide Insurance (previously VPI) is one of the most well-known dog health insurance companies. VPI was founded in 1982, and Nationwide acquired and started selling VPI’s pet insurance product in 2015.
The Whole Pet and Whole Pet with Wellness plans are like most pet insurance companies, reimbursing a percentage of your vet bill for covered treatments. In the past, it only offered what it now calls its Major Medical policy, which uses a standard list of prices to determine payback prices for procedures and covered items, regardless of what your vet actually charges you. Major Medical is a cheaper option than the Whole Pet plans.
Nationwide is among the most expensive, and it doesn’t have a reputation for timely reimbursements despite the ability to track claims in real-time online. Unfortunately, Nationwide has a track record of poor customer service and quietly raising monthly premium rates as pets age.
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Coupon Code
There are no active Nationwide Pet Insurance coupon codes at this time.
Read Our Full Review Of Nationwide Pet Insurance
PetFirst Review
PetFirst was founded in 2004. Even though it has been in business for more than a decade, there are not a ton of reviews out there for us to share. It has a short waiting period for accidents (only one day after enrollment).
Other than that, there’s not much that stands out about PetFirst. We suggest you request a quote and read a sample policy to see if PetFirst is a good fit for you and your pup. When we ran our quotes, PetFirst was consistently among the most expensive.
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Coupon Code
There are not any active PetFirst coupon codes at this time.
Petplan Review
Petplan offers unlimited annual coverage but the main thing keeping it from our top spots is its higher prices for similar coverage. The quotes we ran indicate that in most cases you can get unlimited annual coverage from Healthy Paws, Pets Best and Figo for a less expensive monthly premium. However, we still think Petplan offers some of the best coverage and is worth getting a quote from to see if it works for you.
Petplan has a great claim repayment reputation and allows 30 days for claim repayment but averages 5-7 days. The company covers exam fees and has a shorter waiting period for hip dysplasia at only 15 days.
In addition, Petplan’s policy has coverage for travel cancellations due to life-threatening pet injury or illness, as well as coverage for advertising expenses related to a lost pet. In some cases, it even offers reimbursement for the cost of your pet if they’re never found.
Petplan offers discounts on your premiums if you don’t file a claim for a period of time, rewarding you for keeping your pet safe and healthy. It has an annual coverage limit of $2,500 to unlimited, annual deductibles of $250 to $1,000 and 70%, 80% or 90% reimbursement rates. There may be even more options available to you through the call center at this number: 800-237-1123 (our exclusive 5% discount will be honored for this phone call as well).
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Coupon Code
Use coupon code CanineJournal to receive an additional 5% discount (10% total if you sign up online). Alternatively, if you call 800-237-1123 you will automatically get the additional 5% discount! You can also visit our dedicated Petplan promotions page to discuss current offers.
Read Our Full Review Of Petplan
Trupanion Review
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Trupanion’s deductibles are per condition and lifetime, meaning that once it’s paid, you never pay the deductible again for that condition. However, it also means that if your pet is sick or injured multiple times in one year, you may be paying a lot in deductibles. Trupanion is on the expensive side for similar coverage compared to our top 3 picks in the quotes we ran.
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Coupon Code
There are not any active Trupanion coupon codes at this time.
Read Our Full Review Of Trupanion
Get Your Money Back
Dogs are quick and sneaky, and there are times when they get into trouble when you turn your back. That’s exactly what Atlas did, but fortunately, his parents had insurance for him. Atlas was able to get the care he needed, and his parents didn’t go broke.
Decide Which Pet Health Insurance Company Is Best For You
The number of pet insurance companies to choose from is overwhelming, for sure. Most of the time, people choose to go with the largest, most well-known company, so they don’t have to compare the companies themselves. If you decide to do the research yourself, consider these factors:
- Your biggest concern as a pet parent should be the reputation of a pet insurance provider as offering the coverage you need at a price you can afford. Getting a pet insurance policy is useless if it doesn’t cover what you expect it to cover or if you can’t afford the monthly premium. Remember, although cost is important, it’s not the most crucial factor. Your pet’s protection and coverage in the case of an emergency is your number one priority so be sure to make your decision with the long term in mind.
- After you narrow your search down based on these requirements, the next step is to decide what type of coverage you want for your dog and which additional perks may be negotiable to lower your costs. If you’d like to learn more about terms you should know regarding insurance for dogs, reference our terminology info.
Picking a pet insurance plan is a personal choice, and no one knows what your dog needs better than you. Take the time to make an informed decision, and know that in the long run, it’ll be worth having the added protection. Check out our pet insurance comparison for more on our top 3, and don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments below.
Which factor is most important to you when choosing a pet insurance company?
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Pets Best says your pet can be treated by any licensed veterinarian anywhere in the US, Canada, or Puerto Rico.
-AKC requires additional add-on purchases to get equal coverage to Pets Best.
-Pets Best typically pays claims in less than 5 days (AKC allows up to 30 days).
-Pets Best is consistently one of the least expensive companies when we run quotes.
-AKC limits per incident reimbursements over the lifetime of the pet whereas Pets Best has no lifetime limits on any plan.
-Pets Best’s transaction fee is $2 and AKC’s is $4, which is the highest we’ve seen.
Wellness plans from both companies are nearly identical costing you the same and having similar coverage.
We think Pets Best is better than AKC, which is why it’s #2 and AKC is unranked. You can get quotes from multiple companies here. You may also find this comparison table convenient because it shows what each pet insurance company covers.
Let me know if you have any other questions and best of luck!
In general, I’ve been very happy overall as well. It takes under a minute to file a claim, and claims are processed and paid quickly. Highly recommend.
Unfortunately, we can’t predict how your rates will increase with either company. All companies raise their premiums as the dog ages due to various reasons (e.g., vet care costs increasing, dog aging, etc.). Speaking from my experience moderating comments at Canine Journal, we seem to get more negative feedback from Petplan than Healthy Paws in terms of cost. However, as you mentioned, Petplan has more thorough dental coverage and covers exam fees. Neither company covers dental cleanings, but they both cover a portion of non-routine dental treatments.
We have a Healthy Paws vs Petplan article that may be helpful for you.
Additionally, our Yorkshire Terrier article mentions common health concerns including: retinal dysplasia, Legg-Calve-Perthes disease (thigh bone degeneration), luxating patella (kneecap dislocation), collapsed trachea and portosystemic shunt (a liver condition). The breed can live 14-16 years, so as you mentioned, it’s important to get coverage in the beginning and stick with it to avoid any pre-existing conditions not being covered.
I hope everything I said made sense. We get a lot of great feedback about Healthy Paws from our readers, which is why it’s our #1 pick for pet insurance. However, Petplan has some of the most thorough coverage. If monthly premium cost is more of a concern to you, Healthy Paws may give you the lower price. If you want more thorough coverage, Petplan may be your company. Let me know if you have any further questions, I’d be happy to discuss more with you and help you get the coverage you are looking for!
I saw in your full review of Healthy Paws that pets eight years and older are restricted to 60% reimbursement. Does Figo have age-related reimbursement restrictions?
We are not saying this is the case for Figo, but we are waiting to review them further until 2019. We feel 5 years gives companies enough time to establish consistent pricing and a reputation which helps us evaluate them in our rankings. In our updated reviews coming out this summer, you’ll notice Figo is not included in them because of this reason. If you are curious to learn more about Figo, I encourage you to reach out to their customer service. Let me know if you have any other pet insurance questions I can help you with!
Fortunately, cats are often much less expensive to insure than dogs (often less than $20 per month). Have you gotten quotes for your mixed breed manx kitten?
As for a comparison of what saving $50/month vs purchasing a pet insurance plan, we have this example we can share:
Let’s say you saved $50 a month for 5 years and your vet bill savings account sits at $3,000. I ran quotes for a 7-month-old manx kitten located in Iowa and received the following quotes:
-$19.73/month for Healthy Paws
-$14.93/month for Pets Best
-$20.69/month for Petplan
(Quotes have an unlimited annual limit, $250 annual deductible and 80% reimbursement.)
Instead of being limited to only having $3,000 in a savings account if an emergency arose for your kitten, you could have an unlimited amount available every year and paid around $20/month (totaling $1,200 in premiums for 5 years). Unfortunately, with the cost of vet care, $3,000 won’t stretch too far in 5 years. Testing, treatment, prescriptions and vet visits can add up quickly when you’re dealing with a sick pet. By investing in pet insurance, your ~$20/month can ensure your cat is covered for any minor and major illnesses including cancer, injuries, chronic conditions and more.
By purchasing pet insurance, you’re spending less and getting more coverage. Let me know if you have any other questions, I’d be happy to help you further. 🙂
As for me, Kiki’s medical expenses are over $10,000.00 now. Healthy paws processed our claims always immediately.
their Customer Care even reached out to check on Kiki’s condition. Is that GREAT or what? Thank you, Health Paws for being there for us. You are the GREATEST!
I have had several dogs in my life. My last dog costs me a bundle in vet bills. So for my next dog, I wanted a pet insurance with generous coverage, one that is affordable, and one that was convenient. I narrowed my choices to FIgo and Healthy Paws. Both were similiar however, if you closely, FIgo offered more. FIgo covered vet exam fees, holistic and alternative medicine, shorter waiting periods, and overall more convenience. The major convenience with Figo is that with FIgo you can text them if you had a question, and they would reply back in minutes. Furthermore, although both FIgo and Healthy Paws had phone apps, Figo phone apps covered more than just claims processing. Best of all, Figo was a bit more affordable. So far, so good. I filed 3 three claims. The first claim took about 8 days, but the second and third claims with processed in less than 6 days. Figo should be ranked soon.. Figo has what I wanted: Generous Coverage, Phone App that covered paperless processing, Affordablility, and Exceptional Customer Serivice. I am glad I chose Figo. Figo although unranked i think beat the top 3 ranked here for exceptional coverage. Hope Figo is ranked soon.
Out of curiosity, why wasn’t Nationwide Whole Pet with Wellness reviewed? It appears all levels of other company plans were included, but the only plan shown to be offered by Nationwide is their Major Medical… which is a stupid plan, but their Whole Pet with Wellness is significantly more comprehensive than the 3 top plans mentioned and is competitive in price. One of our dogs was diagnosed with a chronic condition and they’ve paid for her prescription diet, her meds, acupuncture for pain and all of her medical care, including office visits, CAT scans, ultrasound and xrays. They covered our other dog’s laproscopic spay and a dental with nine extractions on the pug mix we inherited. Is this an independent review or was it sponsored by any of the insurance companies? I ask because all of these reviews promote the top three, but only review Nationwide’s Major Medical. We would have had to euthanize our dog, who is now doing very well, if it weren’t for this plan and I find it disappointing none of the reviews ever mentions it.
Nationwide Whole Pet vs. the top 3:
Flea & Tick – Covered
Heartworm Prevention – Covered
Heartworm testing, vaccines, titres – Covered
Fecal exams – Covered
Deworming – Covered
Spay/Neutered – Covered
Acupuncture – Covered
Chiropractic – Covered
Cold Laser – Covered
Rehabilitation – Covered
Therapeutic Diets – Covered
Prescribed Neutriceuticals – Covered
All major medical, emergency and wellness, other than pre-existing conditions – Covered
Our monthly cost for these plans ranges from $58 to $109 a month based on the age of our dogs at sign up. We’ve used this plan for all 9 of our family dogs since spring 2016 when we switched them to this from Trupanion. We’ve had a LOT of claims, I process at least 1 to 2 claims a month on one dog or another, and so far none have been turned down. They do take longer to pay out, more like 2 to 3 weeks before you get the check, longer for extensive medical bills, but that’s not a bad trade off for the extensiveness of the coverage. They also won’t insure puppies on this plan, they have to be 1 year of age, a recent change… but other than that we’ve been pretty happy with the coverage.
They pay on virtually no claims. The amount they take out is ridiculous, and you have to fight with them on every claim. Eventually they give and reverse decision if you threaten to cancel, but that is about the best way to get them to do what they advertise.
Thank you.