Recent Reviews
Healthy Paws - Frustrated with Healthy Paws raising rates. What other options are good/affordable?
Just received notice of my policy increase for my healthy paws plan for a 4 yo dog. The new premiums are already beyond what I’m able to afford, but now they are going to raise the plan $10 more per month due to an address change. They did this last time we moved and said the new state was more expensive than where we lived previously, now we moved back to our old neighborhood and somehow it is more expensive than the previous state they said was more expensive than this. I’m frustrated because it seems like we are being penalized for moving, and now the plan is double when we started. Basically, it’s already stretching my finances, and I’m concerned about sustainability at this rate and how much they raise the policy every year.
We barely hit deductible as is and only hit it once or twice in the life of the policy, never gotten much back in claims, thankfully (glad to not have had crazy issues yet, knock on wood) At 4, dogs can start to have other issues, and I’m concerned that other plans might have preexisting condition policies and not cover if other issues develop and we don’t switch in time.
Any advice or other option recommendations? I like healthy paws because they are easy, generally pay the policy claims very fast, and I trust that their coverage will last. But given the costs, I’m not sure where too go from here.
MetLife - MetLife family plan
I put my three dogs on MetLife’s family plan sharing one annual limit and deductible because it was the only company doing it and all the others including Fetch, who I already had, were getting way up there on premiums, especially for my oldest dog.
Started out sharing $10k annual, $250 deductible, 80% reimbursement, around $115/mo. Dogs were 9, 6 and 4 mo.
After one year and no claims MetLife bait and switched me, lowering my deductible to $200 and raising the price by $30. Their other offerings for less were with higher deductibles that didn’t result in anywhere near my original set up in cost. I was ticked off but ended up doing nothing about it. And yes, I know the rates go up as they age.
Renewal came up and they did it again, changing my limit to $10500, lowering my deductible to $150 and raising my premium by $80 to $228/mo!!!
I never put in a claim this whole time!
I work at a vet hospital and get a discount, did have one dog worked up with labs that didn’t meet the deductible so didn’t bother. However, I imagine as far as other carriers are concerned he now has a “pre-existing condition “ even though we didn’t reach a diagnosis other than polydipsia.
So I called MetLife and went through various policy scenarios to see what that dog would be by himself, moving the now 2 1/2 yo to to a different provider and dropping coverage on the now 11 1/2 yo which I hate to do. I ended up keeping everyone covered at $250/80%/$5k for now at $144/months. Makes me nervous as a previous dog took me up to $8500. But this buys me time to decide what to do.
Has anyone here had experience actually putting in claims with MetLife? How were they in honoring claims? Did they yank you around changing coverage and raising premiums substantially at renewal?!
You would think there would be some kind of reward for not needing to submit claims! These tactics are BS!!!
Spot Pet Insurance - Spot Pet Insurance and Pre-Existing Conditions
I have a 9 y/o Bengal male who had a bout of diagnosed stress colitis three days after I took him from his long-term family and before he was covered. Now, he has diagnosed pancreatitis, which is a totally different thing, of course. However, apparently because they have similar symptoms, the stress colitis is being treated as a "pre-existing condition" for the pancreatitis by Spot. This is ludicrous, and my vet agrees. I'm going to challenge it.
Does anyone have any tips about the challenge and/or the paperwork I have to submit? Has anyone successfully challenged Spot or another pet insurance?
If the challenge doesn't go through, then I'm canceling Spot and just going to pay whatever I have to pay instead of giving them money each month. If they can say something is pre-existing simply because two diagnoses share symptoms, then I don't trust that I'll ever see any reimbursement of costs at all. What if my cat gets diagnosed stomach cancer, which can cause symptoms similar to stress colitis and pancreatitis? Does that mean then they won't cover it? Seems like they at least have that prerogative to do so.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Trupanion - Don't buy Trupanion
After years of paying for Trupanion premiums, with hardly any claim at all (only a small amount for thyroid pills) this company blindsided me with an increase in premium, $70 to $118!, a $48 increase/month! They offered a lot of mumbo-jumbo about cost increases in our area. Well we pay for the routine care and it hasn't gone up, maybe minimally but nothing warranting that kind of increase. Now our dog is old so I won't be able to get any other insurance so I'm stuck with them. But we will be moving our younger dog out of that company ASAP. Just warning you all about this company, no loyalty to long time customers.
Healthy Paws - Avoid healthy paws
Current policy holder for two animals since 2018. Aside from the constant increase in premiums… now that I’ve begun filing claims they are questioning the breed of the dog and threatening to double my premiums if I don’t validate a large mix breed vs a mix pit bull.
Disgusted.
Pets Best - Did you switch from Pets Best?
I just got our policy renewal from PB and saw our premium doubled! Once my shock wore off I found my way to this subreddit and found other posts of people saying the same, sounds like a private equity firm bought them. Ugh. I'd be curious to hear from some of you who made the switch to something else -- who'd you go with? Are you happy with them so far?
For context we have a 4 year old basset hound and are getting a puppy the same week our policy is supposed to renew, so this comes at a somewhat convenient time. Our current dog got a breakthrough case of parvo when he was 1 and did a stint in the e-vet (which PB was really great about) but hasn't had any other health issues since. I don't \*think\* parvo would be considered a preexissting condition since he made a full recovery, but you never know with insurance companies.
Trupanion - Coverage for a Bernese Mountain Dog
Our older Bernese is insured through Trupanion, which has been very easy to work with on hi lymphoma. So far they've covered chemo really well, and we're even considering a stem cell replacement therapy (which costs $75-90k) and it seems like they will cover that as well.
We are thinking ahead for our younger berner, Leela and are going to purchase pet insurance for her. Trupanion has been great for Jackson, but for some reason they are 3x+ as expensive as other options ($600/mo for 90% coverage and non annual limit).
We're also looking at Figo, Pet's Best, pumpkin, and Prudent Pet. Important considerations are unlimited annual payout & a 90% coverage level. Berners tend to get cancer, and we want to make it an easy financial decision to get her the best care possible if that happens for her.
Do you have experience with any of these insurers (or have others that have been good to work with?) Seems like there are many many options, and would like to avoid picking one now that is difficult to work with down the line.
Figo, pumpkin, and Prudent Pet are similarly priced at around $130-180/mo. Pet's Best is coming in way less expensive, $90/mo for a $500 deductible and $55/mo (!) for a $1,000 deductible.
Particularly interested in any of y'all who've gone through cancer treatment with these carries. How has it been?
Nationwide Pet Insurance - Nationwide Pet Insurance - My Pet Protection With Wellness Plan
I'm having trouble figuring out what is covered and not covered under this plan.... My dog recently had an anal abscess the size of a kiwi so it needed to be removed immediately. Deductible is $250.00, and I'm just trying to see the benefits coverage but am having the most difficult time navigating the Nationwide Pet Insurance website; it's as if they do not want us finding out what's covered to utilize our insurance to the fullest. With this operation potentially maxing out my deductible, I have some other Wellness things I want to get taken care of, such as dental, or to see if I can do anal expressions every few months. Any insight on coverage?
SPOT - Pet Insurance Pre Existing Condition Question
Hi, I recently adopted a 1 year old retriever mix and he was limping so we had to get him checked, turns out the doctor said while playing he might have hurt himself and he will recover in 2-3 months but now I was planning to get insurance from SPOT or ASPCA , they have specifically written knee and ligament conditions are pre existing forever so for example if my dog gets arthritis later in his life, would that be a pre existing condition?
I am trying to find the insurance for my dog, I had pretty bad experience with FETCH so definitely no FETCH for us.
Can you let me know what's the best insurance I can use to insure my dog given this curable injury is not considered pre existing for any bigger condition.
MetLife - Should I switch over to Metlife?
Not your standard switching question, honestly. My partner got a job that offers metlife so our 2 dogs are eligible to switch over to metlife from our current insurance. We have petsbest currently. I already checked and there's no concerns about it being my partners work (and only I am currently on my the petsbest insurance). I spoke with metlife on the phone extensively so I can switch anytime basically, i'm mostly wondering reasons I might want to stay vs not.
Both my dogs have quite a few medical conditions and Petsbest has generally done due diligence. I insured my pit mix in Jan 2022 when I got him and they've covered almost everything. (Annual premiums: 2022 was 460, 2023 was 560, 2024 was 725, and this year was 1032. 250 deductible, 90% reimbursement, unlimited level). They denied only one claim. They denied something and considered it alternative. Even tho it's supplied by a teaching hospital, has studies, and the doctor wrote a huge letter explaining why it was the only option for my dog (my dog has multiple concurrent co-morbidities). They still said no. I asked before hand but they wouldn't pre approve and when I said I was concerned bc it was a big bill they just said I could always appeal. I did, and even with a super detailed letter, nothing. However, he has MANY medical conditions- allergies (on apoquel, immunotherapy, regular derm visits), anxiety (on a couple medications), hip dysplasia/OA and IVDD (on meds and may need surgery). So they've more than paid for his medical conditions.
Second dog we adopted in Sept 2024 and she was a 500 deductible, 90% reimbursement and 816/yr. Ended up in 12k in bills between emergency surgery, post op complications and follow up labs. They've paid up. We had to appeal one thing but successfully this time.
Petsbest has been fine and paid and processed, though slow, which is fine.
I'm mostly considering metlife as both dogs are on prescription foods and metlife will cover wellness care. I could get both dogs annual dentals (which i always planned to do, but was considering pushing it out to 1.5 years out when I'll get a better dental price at a new employer), get tick and flea prevention covered! (200 for one dog, 220 for the other). The prescription foods for the dogs run me about 70 every 1.5-2 months. I'm seriously considering it but feel like there may be something I'm missing. The company confirmed they'd cover rx food even tho petsbest doesnt, btw. Same with dental cleanings.
These were their quotes and I was planning to go with the most expensive one, tbh:
* Family plan: 250 deductible, 90%, unlimited was 2108.92 without wellness
* With wellness: 2938.44
* Family plan: 500 deductible, 90%, unlimited was 1783.25 without wellness
* With wellness: 2469.98
* Family plan: 250 deductible, 80%, unlimited
* with wellness: 2047.84
* Family plan: 500 deductible, 80%, unlimited
* with wellness: 1728.52
Would love any insight and opinions.
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