How to Find Great Insurance Coverage for Your Pet
Locating the correct pet insurance plan for your pets that you love with your entire heart can be an overwhelming challenge. The options seem endless, and the offerings that impact the price for coverage make it hard to sort through your choices.
Collecting veterinarian brochures and filling out numerous online forms on vet websites is not exactly how you want to be spending your weekends this month.
Fear not; help is on the way. Here are the key items to seek and avoid while you are shopping around for the ideal pet insurance to keep your cats or dogs healthy.
Avoid unproven pet insurance companies
With over 14 pet insurance companies out there in the marketplace, it is a much safer decision to pick a company that has a recognized track record. Newer pet insurance providers may change the price of their premiums more often while they are figuring out the appropriate pricing model to make their business sustainable.
Established pet insurance companies have already made the necessary adjustments to become profitable and have a trustworthy reputation to stand firm on.
Pet insurance reviews
Don’t depend solely on internet reviews to shop for pet insurance companies. Bad reviews can emerge from a customer choosing the wrong plan and a situation extremely different from your own.
When reading reviews, look for how well the customer experience is handled and pay attention to factors that are data-driven instead of just counting high scores.
Stay away from higher lifetime expenses when possible
Don’t forget to compare pet insurance plans in terms of factoring in how much they could cost you over the presumed lifetime of your pet.
Be sure to avoid having to pay too much for coverage across the years to come by reading the fine print that accompanies the policies you are researching to see what increases will look like as your cat or dog ages.
Information needed before searching for pet insurance
Have these details about your pets handy before you start shopping for pet insurance:
- Are you insuring cats or dogs?
- How many pets do you have?
- What are your pets’ genders?
- How old are your pets?
- What are your pets’ weights?
- What are your pets’ breeds?
- Are your pets pure-breeds or mixed breeds?
- Do your pets have pre-existing conditions?
Steer clear of slow reimbursement speeds
Most consumers operate their spending by staying with a monthly budget. Imagine how your budget can get shattered by having an expensive vet bill that will put you in a situation where you need to be reimbursed quickly in order to cover other expenses.
Look for a pet insurance company such as Pumpkin pet insurance that reimburses your insurance claims within a designated time frame, generally in two weeks or less.
Check customer reviews to determine if the company you are interested in has a history of delivery on their advertised reimbursement speeds.
Pet insurance vocabulary
“Annual deductible” is the dollar amount that you have to pay out of your own pocket annually before your pet insurance begins to cover the expenses.
“Benefits” are related to how much coverage your pet will receive from your insurance plan and how much you’ll get reimbursed for that are related to your veterinary expenses.
“Monthly premium” is what your pet insurance will cost you each month in order to keep the plan.
Understandable billing
You are not alone if your typical personal health insurance plan drives you crazy by just trying to make sense out of it. This frustration might be the reason that you are reluctant to sign up for a pet health insurance plan in the first place.
But pet insurance billing is much more streamlined than health insurance billing for human beings.
For example, human health insurance companies are known to negotiate with healthcare providers and pay them directly behind the scenes without you really knowing how much you owe out of pocket until you actually receive your healthcare bill.
But when it comes to pet insurance, your provider generally pays you directly instead of your veterinarian. Then you pay your vet at the time that their services are provided.
You get reimbursed as soon as possible for the cost of veterinary care based on your plan. You will always know what percentage of the vet expenses will get reimbursed after your deductible is paid.
Many pet insurance customers put their veterinarian bills on a credit card and then pay off the balance once they have been reimbursed by the insurance provider.
Go to the vet of your choice
Most pet insurance providers reimburse you as opposed to paying the veterinarian directly; you are able to any vet practice that you select, even if you switch plans or are a first-time customer.
Protection from unexpected costs
Just think about what would happen if a routine checkup at the vet suddenly transformed into a humongous bill that you never expected.
Even dental cleaning can become expensive if your pet needs to be sedated. Even though costs that you incur at the vet are cheaper than hospitals for humans, they can add up just the same.
Get reimbursed for these unexpected costs and avoid debt with interest charges that increase the overall costs by simply having pet insurance coverage.
Pet emergency care when it is most needed
Pet insurance can literally become a lifesaver if disaster strikes and your pet needs lifesaving emergency aid.
Pet parents who find themselves facing this dire situation can sometimes be forced to make a choice between getting their beloved pet the care that they need to survive or having their pet euthanized and put to sleep because the cost cannot be afforded.
Rest assured
Finally, the beauty of having pet insurance stems from the peace of mind that this health coverage brings is that when you find yourself having to sit with a veterinarian to discuss the wellbeing of your cat or dog, the conversation can revolve around what is best for your pet instead of worrying if you can afford to pay for it or not.
This article has been published in accordance with Socialnomics’ disclosure policy
