I know some of you are wondering if pet insurance is actually worth it?. Let’s give you a little insight into the world of pet insurance as well as the cost to help you decide if it’s actually worth it or not.
Pet insurance is currently one of the fastest-growing optional employee benefits. Some major policy providers include the ASPCA (through Hartville), Embrace, Healthy Paws, PetFirst, Petplan, and Trupanion. Most of these companies cover only cats and dogs, with the exception of one company, Nationwide (previously Veterinary Pet Insurance), which also ensures birds, rabbits, snakes, turtles, as well as other animals.
How the Average Cost of Pet Insurance Plan Works
Per insurance policies come with a variety of deductibles, copayments, and premiums. But note that pet insurance plan differs from people coverage, because you usually have to pay the vet bills in full, then wait for reimbursement.
Although Trupanion currently launched a service in February which can disburse payments directly to vets on the day of service. As stated by the company, 60 percent of its bills are already processed that way.
Another important factor to note is that the cost of coverage can increase as a result of your pet’s breed (purebreds cost more to insure because they are more prone to some hereditary conditions), like age (plans may cost more like your pet advances in age), the rising cost of veterinary care, as well as the coverage options of your choice, like your deductible amount.
For Embrace and Healthy Paws, a flat percentage of covered costs applies after your deductible is met. Other companies, on the other hand, calculate reimbursements depending on the “usual and customary costs” of vet care in your area. With Embrace, you can opt for the annual maximum amount it will cover each year ($5,000, $8,000, $10,000,or $15,000). There’s no annual ceiling for Healthy Paws and Trupanion.
Note that, all policies exclude pre-existing conditions and may exclude breed-specific conditions (or charge you more to have them covered).
Average Cost of Pet Insurance: 2022 Facts and Figures
https://www.valuepenguin.com › Guide › Pet Insurance
We found that the average monthly cost of a pet insurance plan ranges from about $24 to $86 for dogs and $9 to $30 for cats, based on an …
How Much Does Pet Insurance Cost? | U.S. News
https://www.usnews.com › Insurance › Pet Insurance
A pet insurance policy from one of the companies in our rating can cost $6 to $155 in monthly premiums depending on the animal species, breed
Pet Insurance Guide — Worth the Cost & What Does it Cover?
https://time.com › NextAdvisor › Insurance
Data from the North American Pet Health Insurance Association shows the average accident and illness premium for a dog was about $585 a year in
Facts + Statistics: Pet Ownership and Insurance | III
https://www.iii.org › fact-statistic › facts-statistics-pet-o…
The total number of pets insured reached 3.1 million at year-end 2020. Dogs represented 83 percent of in-force gross written premium in 2020. In 2020 average
What does Pet Insurance Cover?
There are plans that insurance costs due to accidents (like injuries caused by motor vehicles), or accidents and illness (including arthritis, cancer, and colitis). Some cover for wellness for certain routine care, like annual exams, flea and tick treatments, as well as vaccinations.
Up to 81% of pet insurance policies are accident and illness plans for dogs; 14.6% offer the same kind of coverage for cats and other pets with only about 4% of the market is made up of accident-only and wellness coverage.
Average pet insurance costs
As earlier said, the amount you pay for pet insurance differs considerably. The monthly premium can range from anything as low as $10 to higher than $100, even though most pet owners can expect to pay anything between & 30 and $50 per month, for a plan with decent coverage.
The average monthly cost of pet insurance for cats and dogs
- Accident & illness coverage – $47.20 $29.54.
- Accident-only coverage – $15.84 $11.74
The average cost of pet insurance for both dogs and cats keeps rising, with rates rising between 15.3% and 23.7% in the past five years, depending on the type of policy.
On the whole, the average pet insurance should protect you from paying high medical bills when your pet gets injured or fall sick. If you have the capacity to pay a large sum out of pocket for emergency pet care, then you may probably not need insurance. But if the reverse is the case, you should consider taking out an insurance policy.
After all that has been said, at the end of the day, it is your choice to make. Thus if you are unsure about what’s covered and what’s not covered, ensure you read over your specific contract and ask the company some salient questions about your plan to get better clarifications.