A Beginner's Guide to Pet Insurance

For today's post, we have JC Matthews from www.simplyinsurance.co. He will be providing us some information on how pet insurance works and how you and your pup can benefit from it.

A Beginner's Guide to Pet Insurance

We all love our dogs, and even though they are known as “Man’s best friend, “ they really are just everyone's best friend.

But here’s the thing:

What should we do when our dog is hurt or not feeling right, how do we make sure our dog and wallet are protected?

In today's post, I am going to go over how dog insurance works, how to determine how much you need and how to obtain it.

What Is Dog Owner’s Insurance?

Dog owner’s insurance is another name for Pet Insurance.

Pet Insurance is health insurance for your pet; it will cover them for things like accidents, sickness and hereditary diseases.

Healthy Paws Pet Insurance found that the top two conditions that needed vet treatment the most were stomach illnesses and skin conditions.

These two conditions alone could run you upwards of $6,500 so having dog owners insurance is definitely a smart move.

How Does Dog Insurance Work?

Dog insurance functions similarly to coverage for a pet parent, it has the same structure:

Monthly Premiums

What you will pay on a monthly or annual basis for the policy.

Deductibles

An amount that must be paid before the insurance company will assist with benefit payments.

Reimbursements

A percentage that you will be reimbursed based on the type of plan that you have, like 60/40 or 70/30.

You are going to be responsible for the smaller of the two numbers.

Annual Maximums

This is a limit on the monetary amount of benefits that are covered for your dog in a year.  

You can choose an unlimited option as well, where there is no set limit of coverage per year.

Claims

To receive your “reimbursement,” you must file a claim; once the claim is registered, you can usually have your money sent via direct deposit within a few days.

Some dog insurance companies are starting to allow you to bill the vet directly so that you don’t have to come up with such large sums of money on the spot.

What Does Dog Insurance Cover?

Your dog insurance is going to cover things like:

• Emergency Visits
• ​​Hospitalization ​& Surgeries
• ​​Rx Medications
• ​​MRI,
• CAT And X-ray​​
• Specialist Care​
• Rehabilitative Therapies
• ​Lab Tests​

Keep in mind that this is not the total or final list, you should check out your policy specifics to understand all the things that your policy will cover.

Some plans can also cover wellness checks and preventative services at an additional cost.

Choosing The Right Dog Insurance

With all of the plan options, you might become a bit overwhelmed as to which option will be best for your dog.

I would start with your dog breed.

If they are known to be high energy or to have a predisposition to specific hereditary diseases, then I would go with the plan that gives me the:

• Lowest Deductible
• Lowest Reimbursement
• Wellness coverage
• No Annual Maximum

These options will result in a more expensive policy; however, over time it will save you the most money and keep your dog in top shape.

If you have a dog that is very active but not prone to any hereditary diseases, then it might be easy enough to go in the middle range of coverage and go with like a $10,000 annual maximum.

Me personally I always think an Unlimited Annual Maximum is the best option, but some coverage is better than no coverage if you can’t afford the annual maximum option.

Taking Action

When it comes to finding coverage for your dog, it is essential that you do as much research as possible.

You can read reviews like this that go into more detail about specific products, or you can reach out to a licensed insurance agent to help you figure things out.