Top 7 Dog and Pet Insurance Providers in 2020
I don’t know about you, but I used to LOVE the old GEICO insurance commercials – especially the cave man saga.
Do you remember those?
Insurance is all about protecting some pretty important things in our life: our homes, our cars, our health, even our lives. Some people go to extreme lengths to protect that which is precious… Apparently, Bruce Springsteen (The Boss himself) has even insured his voice – for $6 million!
So, if you are reading this article right now, I think it is pretty safe to assume that you have a precious pup (or several!) in your life.
Did you know that you can insure your dear ol’ doge?
Wow. Such Doge. So Meme. Photograph: Know Your Meme
So, as we like to do here at Poodled.com, I wanted to provide a guide to the best pet insurance options out there.
But before we do that, I want to introduce my new favorite insurance spokesperson since GEICO’s cavemen: Progressive Insurance’s Dr. Rick, Parenta-Life Coach!
Here are the top 7 pet insurance plans I have found:
1. Petplan Pet Insurance
2. Embrace Pet Insurance
3. PetFirst Pet Insurance
4. Eusoh Pet Insurance
5. Pet Insurer
6. Trupanion Pet Insurance
7. Pets Best Pet Insurance
From Petplan’s own website: “As animal lovers ourselves, we strive to give our pets long, happy lives. As a pet insurance provider, we strive to deliver the most comprehensive coverage available, giving families peace of mind. Simply put, we aim to be the kind of company that will make our pets proud.”
Petplan provides comprehensive pet insurance for a single monthly payment that covers up to 90% of your costs.
Some areas that Petplan Pet Insurance covers, that other companies often don’t include the chronic and hereditary health issues that plague certain breeds of cats and dogs.
This is doubly true of purebreds (like some of our beloved poodles!), where health issues are almost guaranteed.
You can also protect your pupper’s chompers, with insurance policies costing as little as $1 per day.
Embrace Pet Insurance likes to keep things simple, so they offer a single insurance plan for your furry friend.
They cover 90% of your vet bills, which can literally save you tens of thousands of dollars, but their policy will also come in handy to help pay for routine care, such as examinations.
A big deal here is that Embrace will consider pets with pre-existing health issues, something the vast majority of pet insurance providers will simply refuse.
As a bonus – $2 of each policy payment is donated to a pet charity, so you can sleep even sounder at night thinking of the cuddly creatures out there you are helping.
According to their website: “PetFirst helps take the worry out of covering the cost of unexpected visits to the vet with your furry family members.”
Dog insurance begins at only $15/month, and PetFirst policyholders save hundreds each year, even thousands, on a range of different accidents and illnesses, including everything from vestibular syndrome to cancer and heart disease.
PetFirst’s journey began back when Brent Hinton, co-founder of PetFirst, had to put his beloved dog to sleep in 2003. He decided to find a way to make money less of an issue for pet owners.
Eusoh could be considered somewhat of a disruptor in the pet insurance space. Theirs is a crowd-sourced insurance program, where the aim is to empower their members to share costs between themselves.
As for the unique name, according to their website: “Eusoh’s name is derived from the biological term ‘eusociality’, the highest level of social organization in nature. A key feature of eusocial species is their cooperation in caring for each other – just like Eusoh!”
Here is how Eusoh works, in a nutshell: the community pays into a “pool”, and that pool then pays for veterinarian bills. Their system is fully transparent and algorithmically balanced to ensure no member pays an unfair amount.
How much does this cost?
On average, members pay $32 per month, and never more than $65 per month, regardless of how much coverage pet owners need.
They aren’t leaving anything up to the imagination with that name, huh?
Pet Insurer provides you animal lovers with multiple options for your pet, according to some high level details you provide them up front (where you live, details about your dog or other pets). Simply plug this information into their website – et voilá! – their algorithm will show you the most competitive insurance providers for your pupper.
It’s pretty much Expedia, but for pet insurance!
Over 1 million people have used their algorithm in the past 10 years – so there’s gotta be something there; why not give it a shot?
These guys have been around the block a few times. As you can read on their website: “Since 2000, Trupanion has been innovating in the pet insurance industry. Our staff is comprised of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and doting pet owners. We care passionately about pets and make sure our policy has what it takes to serve them and you.”
Similar to a couple other providers we have highlighted in this article, Trupanion offers one simple plan that covers 90% of actual veterinary costs for eligible claims once you meet the deductible.
Additionally, your pet receives unlimited lifetime insurance coverage without caps, and pets with hereditary and congenital health issues are also covered by their policy.
Speaking of having been around the block, the founder of Pets Best Pet Insurance started the first ever pet insurance company back in 1981, after veterinarian Dr. Jack Stephens was asked to euthanize a family dog because the owners couldn’t afford treatment.
Pets Best is the net result of that decision, the same business he’s been part of since 2005.
Pets Best fills the gaps in other insurance policies, like routine care, a 24/7 helpline, and being able to pay your veterinarian directly.
But even better is that they don’t place an upper age limit on their accident and illness plans. So your frosty-faced friend can get the care they deserve in their later years.
Well, there you have it – Poodled.com’s top 7 picks for pet insurance options in 2020. What do you think? Have you used any of these providers?
Let us know in the comments!
