Cheap Pet Insurance Plans (2023 Review) (2024)

Written by

Graci Daby

Written by Graci Daby Author

Graci Daby graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Journalism. She has written for 365 Pet insurance, and edited pet insurance categories across other Insurance focused sites, including MarketWatch. Recently, Graci has been working as an SEO analyst and editor in the pet field for the past 2 years. In her spare time, Graci looks after her fur babies.

Edited by

Quartz Advisor Reviews Team

Edited by Quartz Advisor Reviews Team QZ.com

12/14/2023 12:38 pm

If you have a pet, you’re undoubtedly aware of the importance of pet insurance. Pets may get into all sorts of mischief or become sick at inopportune moments, necessitating long-term care. As a result, it’s essential to have affordable pet insurance to cover the financial damage caused by life-saving veterinary treatment. Several firms provide different levels of coverage, premiums, and deductibles, which gives pet owners many options to keep their pets healthy.

As a result, you should ensure you do thorough research before deciding to purchase pet insurance. As a customer and a devoted pet owner, you should seek low-cost or even free pet insurance that provides significant value to you and your furry babies.

In this review, you’ll find a breakdown of the best affordable insurance plans provided by:

• Spot: Best overall
• Lemonade: Most affordable
• ASPCA: Most experienced
• Embrace: Best for deductibles
• Healthy Paws: Best for chronic conditions
• Prudent Pet: Best for dog and cat parents who want basic options
• Figo: Most flexible reimbursem*nt rates
• Wagmo: Best for immediate reimbursem*nt
• Trupanion: Most flexible deductible

Most pet insurers have three options for policies and plans, comprehensive, accident, and wellness/preventative coverage. You should always get the most coverage possible to minimize costs. At the very least, you want to cover your pet for tests, vaccinations, and essential checkups. This is key to keeping your pet its healthiest and prolonging its life.

*Certain conditions, such as cruciate ligaments or orthopedic conditions, may have longer waiting period times, usually six months to a year. This is common among many pet insurance providers, but most illnesses will be covered after the waiting period listed above.

Most pet insurance coverage plans are accident and illness plans, which means that they provide coverage for veterinary services no matter the emergency. You can expect most accident and illness plans to provide you with reimbursem*nt for the cost of:

• Diagnostic tests
• Surgeries
• Prescription drugs
• Inpatient treatment
• Physical therapy

Most pet insurance plans do not provide any coverage for routine care, breeding care, or cosmetic surgeries. While you’ll need to cover veterinary care costs you incur out-of-pocket first, your pet insurance provider will reimburse you for qualifying claims after filing. Be sure to review your policy before signing onto coverage so you know exactly what is and isn’t covered.

There are multiple types of pet insurance plans, and the type of plan that you buy for your pet will dictate which vet bills you’ll have help paying. Pet insurance plans reimburse you for a percentage of qualifying veterinary care bills according to the terms of your coverage. The following are three of the most common types of pet insurance plans you might want to purchase.

Accident-only Plan

Accident-only insurance plans provide you with coverage for veterinary bills associated with sudden, traumatic accidents. For example, an accident-only plan may cover x-rays and prescription medications associated with broken bones following a car accident, but it will not cover the same tests if they are needed for a sickness that develops over time (like cancer).

Accident-and-illness Plan

Accident and illness plans cover diagnostics, treatments, and prescriptions needed for both sudden accidents as well as illnesses that develop over time. Most pet owners will want to choose more comprehensive accident and illness coverage, as illnesses after often more long-term expenses.

Preventative Care Plan

Preventative care plans, also known as wellness plans, help cover routine care and treatments that your pet might need when they are sick. Examples can include annual checkups, dental cleanings, and routine blood work.

There isn’t any “one-size-fits-all” insurance policy when it comes to pet insurance. That is why most providers allow you to customize a plan to make it match your budget and needs. What factors will come into play with customization?

Deductible

It’s what you’re responsible for paying before pet insurance reimbursing you. Increasing the deductible brings down the cost of the policy. Choose a deductible that matches your budget by asking yourself what you’re comfortable paying before you’d have to be repaid.

Tip: See if the insurance policy has an annual deductible or per-incident deductible. Some providers make you pay the deductible for every incident. This means that if in one year your kitty gets an ear infection then, later on, requires an operation to extract a toy he ingested, you will need to pay the deductible two times.

Annual Maximum

It’s the most the pet policy will reimburse you within a policy year. It reduces the annual maximum and decreases the policy’s cost.

It is vital that you keep your furry pal in mind as you determine this. If you choose a $10,000 annual maximum for your domestic shorthair kitten, you may be overpaying for the insurance plan. However, you might want to think about a $15,000 maximum if you own a large purebred pooch who might be susceptible to hereditary conditions.

Tip: Watch out for “per-incident maximums.” A few providers have limitations per illness or injury. For instance, they might say that they only will reimburse as much as $5,000 for cancer within your pet’s lifetime; however, cancer treatments over a period of years can easily reach $10,000.

Reimbursem*nt Percentage

It’s the percent of the bill which is reimbursed after the deductible is met. Lower reimbursem*nt percentages reduce your premium. Some providers only provide one reimbursem*nt percentage choice, not permitting you to modify your premium based upon this feature.

Riders

A few pet insurance providers have riders for things such as genetic and hereditary conditions or even cancer. That means you must specifically ask for those things to be covered. Otherwise, they aren’t included. Adding those things will increase the annual or monthly price.

All of us are fairly clear on what might impact your health insurance premiums or auto insurance premiums. However, when it comes to your dog or cat’s premium, many factors are considered to determine the cost. What you’ll pay for your Labrador likely will be the same as what a neighbor pays for his Pomeranian or even what your mother-in-law pays for her Lab in some other state. Some factors are things you’re able to control. Some are not.

First, let’s rule out some typical assumptions about things some folks believe affect their premium. Contrary to what some think, the following items don’t impact your premium:

• Where you got the pet from and whether she or he has “paperwork.”
• The pet’s “extracurriculars,” like therapy visits or agility games
• The pet’s training level
• Animal’s weight
• Declawed status
• Whether the pet lives outdoors or indoors
• Prior chronic conditions or medical history

Let us take a look into some factors which affect your rate:

Species

Frequently, canines are more expensive than felines to insure. There are a couple of reasons why: 1.) Dogs generally are larger than cats and require more expense to medicate, sedate, care for, and hospitalize. 2.) Canines generally are more prone to accidents than felines. When was the last time your kitty swallowed a corn cob, which cost $1,400 in veterinarian bills?

Breed

The “larger the breed, the more expensive” logic also applies here. A 130-pound Newfoundland is more expensive to sedate, care for, and medicate than a 4-pound Yorkie. However, an additional component of size affects price: predisposition to genetic issues. Shepherds and Rottweilers are a lot more likely than co*cker Spaniels and Shi-Tzus to require an expensive operation for things such as hip dysplasia and cruciate injuries.

However, it isn’t only about size. Even the smaller breeds have their fair share of genetic problems. As it’ll come down to it, increased genetic illness risk or predisposition to specific injuries may place any pooch at greater risk. That is why we have levels of risk for the most common breeds and most common mixed breeds. Therefore, a Pit Bull mix may be somewhat “riskier” because of his predisposition to knee problems and cancers than a relatively healthy, small pure breed. It is also possible that a Heinz 57 mutt will be less pricey than most pure breeds.

Gender

One factor for pricing for gender did not come about until just a couple of years ago, yet research shows that males are somewhat more likely to be seen by a veterinarian than their female counterparts. And why? Could it be hormonal? Their personality types? Difference in size? Odds are, it is a combination of all those things.

Neuter or Spay Status

On that note, we’ve noticed reductions in risk for neutered or spayed pets. While we are completely aware that many responsible pet owners choose not to alter their furry pals, it is a fact that spayed females cannot get uterine infections, just as neutered males cannot get testicular cancer. As there might be some behavioral elements to the risk related to in-tact pets, we all agree that having an animal “fixed” will mean one less thing to insure.

Location

It is a hard pill to swallow for those who live in the city, yet it’ll come as no surprise that the price of vet care is greater in major metropolitan regions than in rural or suburban areas. Not only are you more likely to locate more advanced care within the major cities in the form of medical centers and alternative care clinics, but the veterinarians also earn a bit more to account for the price of living differential.

Age

Here’s some positive news: your animal’s coverage will not decrease as she or he ages. Your 12-year-old Shepherd will still have the same payouts and coverage he did when he was a 5-year-old or puppy.

Here’s the bad news: your rates will increase. Sometimes an older dog who was healthy for almost all of his 12 years could have quite a few medical bills in his last couple of years. With that increased price came an increased risk that most senior pet owners are usually familiar with. The premium likely will reflect this risk.

Shopping for pet insurance has many variables. Costs will range depending on your pet’s age and breed. Some companies will cover services like spaying and neutering, while others only cover accidents and provide illness coverage. But if you’re looking for affordable pet insurance, any of the options we have covered will help keep your veterinary bills at a minimum.

When shopping for the best pet insurance, make sure you get multiple pet insurance quotes and get the best coverage for your pet’s needs at the best price.

Find a Pet Insurance Company in Your State

​​Here at Quartz, our research team looks to examine all pet insurance policies and comes up with reviews based on:

• Coverage
• Plan options
• Cost
• Reputation
• Customer service
• Species available
• Wellness benefits

We’ve created a 5-star rating system to score pet insurance brands based on a 100-point scale. To develop a list of the best pet insurance plans, we looked into plans, rating coverage, claims handling, reimbursem*nts, deductibles, and limitations.Each factor is weighted differently based on the following factors:

• Monthly Pricing (25 points): How each pet insurance company charges for their plans is a crucial part of the decision-making process of the customer. Affordable rates and comprehensive coverage are the defining characteristics of providing the best pet insurance.
• Coverage (20 points): We scored companies based on the treatments and procedures they cover. Providers offering broader coverage and more unique treatments received more points. Pet insurance policies are not offered by all companies for older pets. Providers who have an age limit on the pets they cover were deducted points.
• Plans (15 points): Pet insurance providers offer accident-and-illness plans, accident-only plans, wellness add-ons, and pet preventive care add-ons, so customers can choose the right plan for their pets. We also factored in costs to achieve the most comprehensible review for your pet’s needs.
• Customization Options (10 points): You can ensure your pet only gets what they need by customizing your policy. A higher score was earned by providers who offered a greater range of annual limits, deductibles, and reimbursem*nt rates.
• Customer Service (10 points): We scored companies based on their website accessibility and usability, mobile apps, and grating points to companies with the most customer experience options.
• Industry Reputation (10 points): We assessed each company’s industry reputation by reviewing up-to-date BBB ratings and accreditation information, as well as their years of experience in the industry.
• Waiting Periods (10 points): Companies with shorter accident and illness waiting periods scored higher than companies with longer waiting periods.

Our team revisits each company’s information at the end of every month to make updates and ensure the information is as accurate as possible.