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Pet Health Insurance Demystified

So, you think health insurance for humans is complicated? You're right, of course, and sometimes health insurance for your dog or cat can be just as confusing. We are going to try to demystify Pet Health Insurance for you.

The best way to unravel the mysteries of pet health insurance is to give examples. To do this we have found three of the more popular programs and tried to compare their offerings and prices. I say TRY because it's difficult to compare when all of the variables are not exactly the same. Here is what we came up with:

Dog: Rover
Birth 4/1/2009
Pure Bred Labrador Retriever
Male
Not yet neutered
Home: Wisconsin - smack dab in the middle of the USA!

Insurance Companies:
Embrace Pet Insurance
QuickCare
Pets Best

Plan A Price:
Embrace: $50.90
QuickCare: $44.95 (10% out of pocket)($3000/incident)
Pets Best: $46.91 ($2500/incident - $42,500/lifetime)

Plan B Price:
Embrace:$53.90 (no per incident limit - $5000 annual limit)
QuickCare: $54.90 (30% out of pocket)
Pets Best: $45.12 ($7000 per incident limit) (no annual limit-lifetime $100,000)

Example 1: Plan A
Fractured Leg with total vet costs of $1769.00

You Pay:
Embrace: $433.00
QuickCare: $266.00
Pets Best: $433.00

Example 2: Plan A
Major surgery from illness with total vet costs of $4532.00

You Pay:
Embrace: $2532.00 ($100 deductible, 20% out of pocket, and $2000 annual limit)
QuickCare: $1532.00 ($100 deductible, 10% out of pocket and $3000 annual limit)
Pets Best: $2032.00 ($100 deductible, 20% out of pocket and $2500 per incident)

Don't forget to factor in the cost of the monthly premiums as well when you do your own figures.

Other "options" to consider:
Does the Pet Health Insurance have a "Per Incident" or "Per Category" rider

Embrace: no per incident - no category annual limit (except, of course, the PLAN limit)
QuickCare: $3000 per category (ie: kidney stones and kidney infection might be considered the same category and so when the limit is reached your pets coverage in this category is capped out - usually for the lifetime of the animal.
Pets Best:$2500 per incident - but no category annual limit (except, of course, the PLAN limit)

Just from these few examples you can see why it is so difficult to accurately compare Pet Health Insurance policies. At first glance, QuickCare looks like the best plan by a mile, but with their category limit it might not be the best coverage. Especially if you have a dog or cat that is prone to something like kidney infections or some other illness.

Pets Best seems to be the best overall plan for Plan B - and overall; although I would not discount either QuickCare or Embrace.

All three of these comapnies seem to be on a par with each other and the choice will come down to the specifics of what you're looking for and what you can afford.