Pet Insurance recs for new dog 🐾💕

We use and like MetLife. We had a policy with VPI (now Nationwide) years ago for our old dog and found them really frustrating to work with because they used national averages that only covered a fraction of Bay Area costs, so that was a priority in choosing a plan for our now two-year-old dog. We found MetLife because they partner with our rescue (though they were price competitive with the other plans we considered), and I vaguely recall that if you signed up within a certain window of rescuing a dog, they did not consider pre-existing conditions (but confirm that—ours was rescued as a puppy so that part was moot). Our pup has put the plan through the ringer (possible hip dysplasia that cost hundreds of dollars to thankfully rule out, two ER visits for other reasons) and they have been great. Everything gets submitted online and it's a straight "this is your deductible, and then we cover x% of everything above that" with quick reimbursement and no constraints on where you receive the care. They offer a wide range of coverage points and you can get a high-deductible plan if the goal is just to have catastrophic coverage. We dropped our old dog's insurance as he aged and the policy got more expensive and in his later years spent thousands on cancer treatment (and had to make tough decisions about whether to continue treatment as the costs grew) so after that experience, decided to just budget insurance into the cost of owning a dog. It is worth it for the peace of mind for our family (and I never expected to get my money's worth with a puppy, but here we are!)

We have had great luck with Trupanion (two Labs that have gotten into everything you can imagine). They are super quick with reimbursement and cover everything except routine visits and vaccines (which is true for all plans that I've seen). They are definitely not inexpensive, but we've been happy with them.

We have Healthy Paws and have had a very positive experience. We  adopted a puppy who had major health issues within 3 months of getting him (and establishing our policy). Our experience has been very seamless and positive so far (it’s been 9 months), with straightforward and quick reimbursements. You do have to pay up front but submitting a claim take five minutes online. We have the 80% plan, which reimburses for 80% of the billed cost of treatments/interventions, diagnostics and medications (it does not cover exams). Without this plan we would have had to pay close to $15,000 for our dog’s care. For what it’s worth, our vet recommended Healthy Paws specifically because as our vet described it, Healthy Paws applies the deductible to each incident/episode, whereas other insurers require you to meet a deductible for each separate ailment. So if your dog has several concurrent but separate issues, you might have to meet several deductible thresholds before reimbursement kicks it. 

TruPanion is the absolute best! They cover 90% of all accident/illnesses (but not preventative care, ie: vaccines). The major reason they are superior to other insurance companies is that there is no cap on coverage. So, if you have at $13,000 procedure for an intra-hepatic liver shunt at UCDavis (like we did for our dog), they covered 90% of the $13,000! Other companies usually have a cap at $5000 or so for any single incidents. Highly recommended!!!

I highly recommend Trupanion. Have had them for over ten years for my cat. They do not have a lifetime limit. They are the only insurance that UC Davis Veterinary Hospital bills directly. They will literally process your claim in seconds. I have been sitting in the exam room and even before I get to the front desk, they have processed the claim meaning that I only pay my copay. Very convenient. The general policy does not cover holistic vets, so if you want that, you have to add that at the start. My cat got very very sick last year, and it was a real blessing have insurance. You never need it until you need it, and I'm so thankful I had Trupanion.

Veterinarian here, and about 60% of my clients have pet insurance so I hear about it when things don't go well with the companies-- my clients seem to have the least hassles, and also the best coverage, when they have Trupanion, Healthy Paws, or Nationwide. However as I understand it, Nationwide is now doing caps on yearly payouts based on the last couple of months of cases that I have seen (there might be some grandfathered Nationwide agreements that are older policies, so be aware that owner experiences might differ with companies when they make new policy changes!).

You will want to look into whether there is a yearly cap, a lifetime cap, or a per-disease cap. There is also a balance between the deductible and your monthly fee (like human health insurance in some cases).  

A lot of insurance does not cover the vet's consultation fee, so if your dog gets an illness and needs to see 2-3 specialists, you will be paying for the consult fee for each one in full. But the above mentioned companies seem to consistently pay out as expected (based on the terms of the agreement of course) for diagnostics and treatments, which these days are the really pricey parts!