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Home > Insurance > Does Healthy Paws Cover X-Rays, MRIs, or Other Imaging? Insurance Facts

Does Healthy Paws Cover X-Rays, MRIs, or Other Imaging? Insurance Facts

veterinarian examining dog with xray on the wall

Pet insurance is a fantastic way to make unexpected health care for your pet more affordable. While some pet insurances will help you pay for expected expenses, like vaccines, the primary purpose is to help you pay for expenses related to emergency care and unexpected medical events. Healthy Paws is one of the top pet insurance companies, but can you expect them to help you pay for imaging services, like MRIs and X-Rays? The short answer is yes, Healthy Paws generally covers imaging for your pet.

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Does Healthy Paws Cover Imaging?

Yes! If your pet ends up in a situation where imaging is required, you can count on Healthy Paws to help you cover it. They offer up to 90% reimbursement, which can make expensive imaging much more affordable to the average person. They cover X-Rays, ultrasounds, and other diagnostic treatments. They also cover specialty care and emergency care, so even specialty diagnostic imaging is likely to be covered.

The exception to the coverage offered by Healthy Paws is limited to conditions that are not pre-existing conditions. Pre-existing conditions are excluded from coverage by Healthy Paws, so if your pet requires diagnostic imaging related to a pre-existing condition, even if the testing or treatment is new, Healthy Paws will not cover it. There are other conditions that may be excluded by some Healthy Paws policies, so make sure to check your policy carefully for exclusions.

corgi getting xray at vet
Image By: Roman-Zaiets, Shutterstock

Why Is Imaging Required for Some Conditions?

Diagnostic imaging is a great way to get a look inside your pet’s body without having to perform an invasive surgical procedure on them. Some imaging can be used to get a good look at parts of your pet that can’t safely be seen through exploratory surgery, like the brain, spinal cord, and heart.

These tests can give your pet’s veterinarian a safe way to identify what might be internally going on with your pet, allowing them to reach a diagnosis and to help guide in treatment options that would otherwise not be available or advisable without the help of imaging.

Types of Imaging

MRIs are an uncommon test because of the lack of availability of these extremely expensive machines, not to mention the cost. Pet insurance like Healthy Paws can help make this expensive diagnostic far more accessible whenever your pet needs this type of imaging.

MRIs offer a view of the structures within your pet’s body, including the blood vessels, organs, muscles, and bones. CT scans are sometimes used instead of MRIs, but CT scans don’t provide quite as thorough a view of the inside of your pet’s body as an MRI scan.

Other common imaging performed on pets is x-rays and ultrasounds. While X-rays allow a view of the solid structures within your pet’s body, like their bones, they also can detect foreign bodies and calcified structures, like tumors. Ultrasounds provide a view of your pet’s soft tissues, and this type of imaging is primarily used to view organs.

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Conclusion

If you have pet insurance through Healthy Paws, then you can count on them to help you pay for imaging, no matter how pricey. They offer up to 90% reimbursement with no payout maximums, so they’ll help you cover care throughout the year, no matter how expensive it becomes.

Just remember that Healthy Paws won’t help you pay for services provided to your pet in relation to a pre-existing condition, as well as certain other conditions that would be outlined in the policy.


Featured Image Credit: GoodFocused, Shutterstock

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