Pet insurance can help you afford quality veterinary care and avoid a tough
financial decision about your pet’s health. But which provider is right for you?
Here are 5 questions to ask any pet insurance provider.
1. How much does the plan cost?
A pet insurance plan needs to give you the right amount of coverage—and be affordable for your budget. Our entry level accident and illness plan on average costs 34% less than similar plans offered by other providers, and 60% less than the most expensive of these plans.* If you hear promises of really high payouts elsewhere, look closely at the cost of the plan. Will you need to raise your deductible a significant amount just to afford it? Even with our lower premiums, fewer than 2% of our customers hit their plan’s incident limit in 2010.+ Get a quote now to see rates available for your pet.
2. What will affect your reimbursements?
ASPCA Pet Health Insurance plans reimburse 90% of eligible charges from your
actual veterinary bill. Our reimbursements aren’t limited by a benefit schedule,
which pays a fixed amount per diagnosis regardless of the treatments your pet
needs. We also don’t exclude your veterinarian’s exam fee. Since more than 60%
of claims include this fee, this can have a big impact on your payouts.**
Finally, we don’t require a per incident deductible that would reduce your
reimbursement for every single injury or illness. We have a low $100 annual
deductible that you only need to meet once per plan year, no matter how many
incidents occur.
3. Is wellness coverage available?
The ASPCA® recommends pet parents follow preventive care guidelines as part of
its Criteria for Responsible Care. Since this care is so important to keep pets
healthy, ASPCA Pet Health Insurance has two options for wellness care. For little
additional cost, you can cover your pet for spay/neuter surgery, an annual dental
cleaning, an annual exam, flea and heartworm medication and several vaccines and tests.
4. How much experience does the provider have?
The Hartville Group, Inc., one of the oldest and largest pet insurance providers
in the US, provides ASPCA Pet Health Insurance through its licensed agency. We
have the experience and resources necessary to give you the best balance between
coverage and cost. Plus, Hartville is the only strategic partner for pet
insurance of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®
(ASPCA®), and it has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (2011).
5. What do pet health insurers ask you and your veterinarian to do?
With pet insurance, pet parents visit any licensed veterinarian to treat their
pet, then they pay the veterinarian at the time of service and submit a claim to
the pet insurance company for reimbursement. But there are some key differences
in this process. ASPCA Pet Health Insurance does not require a diagnosis for
reimbursements. That can have a big impact in cases with a hard-to-pinpoint
cause. Also, we don’t ask the veterinarian to sign or fill out any portion of
our claim form, so customers don’t have to worry about bringing along forms or
making a special trip.
