Pets usually become a part of your family. Whether you have a cat, dog, or any other animal, you aim to ensure the health and happiness of your pet. But having a pet can be very expensive thanks to veterinary bills, medications and costly medical procedures.

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However, you can cut down your expenses without compromising your pet’s health through pet insurance. Pet insurance, like health insurance for humans, can assist you with the costs of caring for your pet.

What Does Pet Insurance Cover

The most significant benefit pet insurance gives you is the peace of mind.

Once you get a pet insurance policy, you won’t need to be worried that an illness or injury to your pet will jeopardize your financial future. Pet insurance will cover medical procedures that could save your pet’s life. It can also alleviate your annual pet care expenses since it has wellness coverage.

Pet insurance makes it affordable and convenient to get your pet to its regular medical checkups without worrying about the expenses. Here are more details about pet insurance, including what expenses are normally covered:

There are Different Coverage Levels

Pet insurance companies enable you to choose a coverage that meets your pet’s needs, just like you can select your health insurance policy according to your medical needs.

Different types of policies are available to provide different levels of coverage for different things. Usually, basic insurance covers illnesses and accidents, but you can also decide to upgrade to a wellness plan that adds coverage for wellness checkups, vaccinations, and other routine vet services. You can customize your insurance plan to include what matters most for your pet.

You Will Have to Pay Premiums and Deductibles

Pet insurance policies, like most human health insurance plans, have monthly premiums that differ depending on the extent of coverage, maximum annual limits the amount of your deductible.

You should expect to pay anywhere between $30 and $50 a month. Note that insurance for cats is usually cheaper than that of dogs.

Besides your monthly premium, you’ll also have to pay for your annual deductible. The deductible is a share of the vet bill that you have to pay before insurance covers the balance. The higher the deductible, the lower the premiums.

Reimbursements Are Determined by Your Policy

An essential difference between human health insurance and pet insurance is that the latter typically reimburses you. On the other hand, human health insurance pays at the time of service.

Those with pet insurance policies have to pay for vet services during each visit and they’ll be reimbursed by their pet insurance plan after the fact.

There Are Annual Maximums

Unsurprisingly, the higher a plan’s annual maximum is, the higher one’s monthly premiums will be. Veterinary services can cost over $20,000 for pets’ medical concerns, which means that policies with low limits in the $3,000 to $5,000 range won’t cut it. It’s advisable to stick with a more expensive plan with no annual limit to cover all of your pet’s costs.

There Can Be Waiting Periods

Most pet insurance plans impose waiting periods on several services to prevent people from instantly buying pet insurance policies, using them to make sure that costly services that their pet requires are covered and then canceling their policies.

It is quite usual for there to be a 14-day waiting period for illnesses and five days for injuries. Yet some plans impose waiting periods for certain conditions, so you must make sure your pet doesn’t have any of those conditions.

Age and Breed Restrictions Apply

If you’re getting pet insurance for your cat, the only thing is to look at the age limits that are usually in place. Often, plans include coverage starting at six to eight weeks of age for cats and dogs, but they typically impose maximum age limits for pets that vary from plan to plan.

If you’re buying per insurance for a dog, check the policy in detail to make sure your particular breed is covered.

Popular Pet Insurance Options

Once you begin searching for pet insurance for your cat, dog, or other pet, you’ll find there are numerous different policies and options. However, only a few of them are worth considering. Here are some most popular pet insurance companies every pet owner should check out:

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Pets Best

Pets Best offers a range of pet insurance plans, including accident-only coverage. Its base plans have very low annual maximums that make them less appealing. Usually, Pets Best plans cost around $38 a month.

Healthy Paws

Healthy Paws pet insurance presents a single yet comprehensive plan that covers many bases for pet owners. However, there is  no limit on annual payouts and it reimburses you based on the cost of the actual vet bill

Nationwide

Previously known as Veterinary Pet Insurance, Nationwide presents three plans that cost an average of $33 a month.

Nationwide’s Whole Pet plan includes many services, but it costs an average of $32 a month for cats $60 a month for dogs.

Embrace

The biggest advantage of Embrace is that you can customize your insurance policy to suit your pet’s particular needs. Therefore, the average monthly cost for the base plan is only $9 for cats and $13 for dogs, according to Pet Insurance U. The company enrolls pets up to the age of 14 years. However, it is flexible, and it pays wellness claims in around five days and illness and accident claims in around 10 to 15 days.

Figo

Figo has three tiers of coverage and is a flexible option for a majority of pet parents.

Figo is a recent phenomenon in the industry, and you can select from plans with annual maximums ranging from $10,000 to unlimited for optimal flexibility.