9 Myths About Pet Insurance

You might feel this way until you get hit with an unexpected and expensive veterinary bill. Just a simple accident like your pet swallowing a toy can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to treat.

Part of the reason veterinary care can be so expensive is that there are lots of advanced treatments available for pets these days. For instance, pets can benefit from chemotherapy, radiation, MRI, and laser treatments. This is great news for our pets, but these services can come with high price tags.

Pet insurance can help you focus on your pet’s care with less worry about the cost. It’s also easier to budget for a monthly premium than a bill that comes out of the blue.

You might be surprised at just how much is covered with certain plans. For example, Complete Coverage^SM covers a lot of things you’d expect and some things you might not like cancer and stem cell therapy. It covers accidents, illnesses, and hereditary conditions, such as hip dysplasia and certain eye disorders. It even includes coverage for prescription food and supplements when used to treat a covered condition (not for general maintenance or weight management) and behavioral conditions with symptoms including destructive chewing, fur pulling, or excessive vocalization.

It does have a list of exclusions, which we try to keep as short as possible. These include cosmetic procedures (such as tail docking), breeding costs, and pre-existing conditions, which are typically not covered by any provider. Look at a sample plan for a full list.

If you have a puppy or kitten, pet insurance could end up being your best friend! Those energetic little furballs have a way of getting into trouble. It’s also smart to enroll in pet insurance sooner rather than later. If something happens to your pet before you enroll, it would be considered a pre-existing condition and may not be eligible for coverage.

This can be risky since there’s no way to know when an emergency might come up or how much it would cost. If you don’t have enough set aside in time, you may need to add to your credit card debt, put off other expenses, or borrow from family members. You could also drain your savings with just one incident. With pet insurance, you have coverage up to your annual limit, which resets each year.

No list of providers here! You are free to use any veterinarian or specialist you want. No referral or pre-approval needed either. You can also visit any emergency clinic. This can be a relief when you need to get your pet medical attention as fast as possible and your regular clinic is far away or if they are closed.

We work hard to make that part easy. You can file claims online, using our app, or by fax or mail—whichever works best for you. With the My Pet Insurance app, you can submit a claim even before you leave the veterinary clinic. Just open the app, give us some information about the incident, and add a picture of your invoice. Regardless of the method you choose, we will keep you posted as your claim is processed and you can check the status online or using the app any time.

We have a dedicated team who is committed to processing claims as quickly as possible. It can help to use our app for claim submission, which is the fastest way to get your claims in to us. You can also sign up for direct deposit. This way, your reimbursement is directly deposited into your selected bank account and you can avoid having to wait for a check in the mail. It also means you won’t have to deposit the check, which takes time whether you use your bank’s app or take a trip to your local branch.

Even cats who stay indoors all of the time can get hurt. For example, they might not land on their feet when jumping from a high perch and fracture their leg. Or they may swallow a piece of feather that came off of a toy or a stray bit of string they came across on the floor. Cats also get sick with common illness like upper respiratory infections (URIs), diabetes, and arthritis as well as serious ailments such as cancer. Pet insurance can help you give your cat the care you want for them without breaking the bank.

There is some truth to this myth in that pet insurance typically does not cover pre-existing conditions. So, if your pet’s surgery is for a health issue or injury they had before you enrolled, it would be considered a pre-existing condition and not be covered. However, you can still enroll your pet even if they need surgery or currently has a health condition and get reimbursed for future covered incidents.

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