When disaster strikes, you want to be ready. Pet insurance is one way that you can prepare and protect your pets in case they ever develop a chronic illness or injure themselves. Vet bills can easily range into the thousands, and unless you have that kind of cash sitting around, you need pet insurance to protect them from the unexpected.
But not every pet insurance company is the same, and you don’t want to learn too late that the company that you went with doesn’t give you the coverage that you need when you need it. So, highlighted here are the best pet insurance plans if you live in Pennsylvania.
A Quick Comparison of the Winners for 2024
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Best Overall
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Trupanion |
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Best Value
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Wagmo |
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Pumpkin |
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Lemonade |
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Embrace |
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The 10 Best Pet Insurance Providers in Pennsylvania
1. Trupanion – Best Overall
If you’re looking for a pet insurance plan that doesn’t increase its rates just because your pet is a year older, Trupanion is the way to go, as it’s the only pet insurance company that doesn’t increase rates this way. The tradeoff, though, is that the rates are significantly higher when you initially sign up for the plan.
That said, a huge perk with Trupanion is that it works with many veterinarians throughout Pennsylvania, so you don’t need to worry about waiting for a reimbursement when paying your bill. It also covers dental, though only up to a certain amount. Still, with many other plans, dental is an optional add-on or isn’t covered at all. Trupanion also offers no maximum payouts for regular care and has outstanding coverage for when you go to use your insurance.
You’ll have to pay more up front for the premium, but you won’t have to worry about pricing out of your plan when your pet gets too old.
2. Wagmo – Best Value
Wagmo has affordable rates, and you can customize the deductible on the plan to get the right level of coverage for your pet and finances. It also offers a plan with 100% reimbursement. So, once you meet the deductible, you don’t need to pay anything else.
Wagmo has wellness plans that help cover more routine expenses, and it offers many other great plans for you to pick from.
Still, while it’s a great insurance option for your pets, it does have incident and lifetime limits, and the rates will go up as your pet gets older.
3. Pumpkin
If you want to look at a pet insurance plan and know that you’re getting a great deal no matter what option you go with, Pumpkin is a great choice. It only offers pet insurance plans with a 90% reimbursement rate, so you can actually afford to use the coverage.
Furthermore, it has affordable plans, and if you have more than one pet, you get a 10% multi-pet discount. The plans themselves are customizable depending on the deductible that you want and potential maximum annual payouts, but those affect the coverage’s overall quality.
Also, like most pet insurance policies, when you renew the policy each year, the rates will go up because of your pet’s increased age.
4. Lemonade
Lemonade is a huge name in the pet insurance industry, partly because of the awesome plans that it offers. It has affordable packages and many add-ons that you can pick from to get the exact coverage that you want.
A few of these options include exam fee coverage and wellness plans. Like with many other plans, you can customize the deductible and coverage amounts to get a rate that you can live with. Just be aware of what you’re getting, as you don’t want to lower the premium but get a plan that doesn’t cover much!
That’s possible with Lemonade because things like dental coverage and end-of-life coverage are additional add-ons. You can get what you want in à la carte fashion, but it does mean you might not opt for something that you will need later.
Also, too many coverage add-ons can send your monthly payment sky-high. But one unique feature that Lemonade does offer is the ability to pay the entire year’s premium up front and receive a significant discount.
If you have the money on hand, you can save money by making one lump payment rather than putting back a smaller amount each month. Just know that the rates will go up as your pet gets older each year.
5. Embrace
Embrace is an affordable pet insurance provider that works with many larger companies to supplement its insurance policies. With Embrace, you get a great deal of control over the policy, including the ability to customize both the deductible and the reimbursement percentage.
You also can add a pet wellness plan for an affordable price to help cover routine expenses, which can help you get all your pet-related costs under control. Even better, if you have multiple pets, Embrace offers a 10% multi-pet discount, bringing down its already affordable rates.
But while it’s a great pet insurance company, its rates do go up as your pet gets older, and it has low annual reimbursement limits. These reset annually, but if you exceed the limit for the year, you’ll have to wait until you can use more benefits.
6. Figo
While most pet insurance policies charge you all the exam fees before counting anything towards the deductible, that’s not the case with Figo if you opt for its affordable exam fee coverage.
It also offers wellness coverage for routine care, and the pet insurance itself is extremely customizable. It’s one of the few plans that offer up to 100% reimbursement, and if you pair that with exam fee coverage, you shouldn’t need to spend a dime past the deductible for vet bills.
Figo also offers a 5% multi-pet discount that you can use to lower the already affordable rates. Just be aware of what you’re getting with your insurance, and ensure that it’s enough for you and your pets.
While having full customization is nice, not all pet insurance plans provide adequate coverage if something serious happens to your pet.
7. Healthy Paws
If you prefer to take a more alternative approach to your pet’s health, you can still get pet insurance to help out with the costs. With Healthy Paws, you can pick from a wide range of alternative care options with any of its plans.
It also covers genetic conditions and offers customizable deductibles and reimbursement percentages. The coverage itself is outstanding but there aren’t any additional wellness plans.
But since the coverage covers more things than a standard pet insurance plan, it’s still a great deal.
There are no maximum payouts, but the rates will go up as your pet gets older. Just know what you’re getting when you sign up, so there are no unexpected surprises in the future.
8. Progressive
Progressive is a huge name in the auto insurance industry, but it also covers pets! If you already have Progressive for other insurance coverages, you get to keep all your policies in one place.
It offers adjustable coverage amounts and even plans that have accident-only coverage if that’s something you’re interested in. Moreover, it has its typical plans and wellness package add-ons if you want more comprehensive coverage.
No matter what plan you go with, Progressive offers affordable rates, which is a big deal. But not all the plans provide adequate coverage for serious situations with your pet, and the rates will go up as your pet gets older. It’s a good option, but you know what you’re getting beforehand.
9. AKC
The AKC is a huge name in the pet industry, though not because of its pet insurance policies. Still, the AKC knows virtually everything about pets, and it wants to help you keep yours healthy. It offers plans with unlimited annual limits, which means that no matter what happens to your pet, you have the coverage that you need.
It also has many optional upgrades to pick from, so if there’s a specific area that you’re worried about, you can get the coverage that you want. However, our main issue with its pet insurance policies is the price.
The plans provide great coverage but cost a bit more than many others. AKC does offer a 5% multi-pet discount to help drive costs down, but it still doesn’t fully make up for the increased price.
Also, the rates will go up each year, and not all the plans provide the level of coverage that you might need. AKC pet insurance is better than no pet insurance, but you could do better and spend less with a different insurance policy.
10. ASPCA
While you might think that ASPCA is the way to go because of its well-known reputation for caring about pets, it’s not the best pet insurance company out there. Its rates increase as your pet ages, which is a major drawback.
Also, with ASPCA pet insurance, you need to take a hard look at what you’re getting. While it provides extremely comprehensive coverage that covers most things, it has annual limits on all its plans and a few of the annual limits are extremely low.
It also offers lower reimbursement rates with a few of its plans, though the deductible can get a bit high. It’s not a bad choice, but you do need to do your homework before deciding to go with ASPCA pet insurance.
Buyer’s Guide: Choosing the Best Pet Insurance Provider in Pennsylvania
What to Look For in Pet Insurance (for Cats, Older Dogs, Etc.)
When you’re looking at pet insurance plans, there are many factors that you need to consider. Besides the monthly premium, you need to consider the true cost of the plan, which includes coverage areas, deductibles, and annual limits.
There’s so much to go through, which is why we highlighted everything that we used to evaluate the insurance plans on this list.
Policy Coverage
This area is challenging to sift through when you’re looking at different pet insurance policies. For instance, some plans provide full dental coverage, others provide limited dental coverage, still others provide no dental coverage, and a few plans offer dental coverage as an optional add-on.
That’s just one aspect of pet insurance. Alternative therapies, preventative care, annual limits, and even exam fees are all things that you’ll need to look into when you’re picking out a pet insurance company.
Go through all the fine details to ensure that you’re getting the exact coverage that you need when picking out a plan.
Customer Service and Reputation
If you’re having a problem with your pet insurance policy or if you have a question about coverage, you want a pet insurance company that will listen to your concerns and respond to you quickly and respectfully.
The company’s overall reputation matters too. When there’s smoke, there’s usually fire, and if there’s too much smoke in the form of bad reviews about a pet insurance company, that’s a huge red flag. All the companies on this list passed that test with flying colors.
Claim Repayment
Pet insurance is great, but if you can’t rely on the pet insurance company to pay out when you file a claim, there’s no reason to have it. Unfortunately, there are plenty of shady companies out there that will take your money each month and then fight to pay out anything.
None of the options on this list meet that criterion.
Price of Policy
While you can’t just check the premium when you’re looking at pet insurance policies, you can’t ignore it completely. The monthly price of the policy matters, and when you’re comparing similar plans when it comes to coverage, deductibles, and annual limits, you should go with the lower-priced option.
It’s not always to get an apples-to-apples comparison, but do your best, and don’t pay more for identical coverage if you don’t need to!
Finally, look at companies with multi-pet discounts, and keep that in mind when you’re checking the monthly price for coverage.
Plan Customization
Who knows what you need better than you? That’s the idea behind plan customization, and just about every pet insurance company out there enables you to customize the plan. This way, you can find a monthly premium that you can afford, and you can make realistic decisions about how much protection you need.
For instance, with a plan that offers 90% reimbursement and a $500 deductible, you likely won’t pay for anything. If your pet gets a $20,000 vet bill, what’s coming out of your pocket is $2,450. If you’re not able to spend more than $1,000 on a vet bill, there’s no reason to go from a $10,000 limit to a $20,000 limit.
Plan customization enables you to lower the limit and save money on your monthly premium instead of paying for a level of coverage that you will never really use.
FAQ
It’s typical to have questions when you’re looking at pet insurance companies. We understand, and that’s why we decided to answer a few of them here!
Can I Get Pet Insurance Outside the U.S.?
If you go with the right pet insurance plan, you can get coverage outside of the United States. But you’ll often need to pay extra for the time that you’re out of the country, and you’ll need to do this before you leave with your pet.
Does Pet Insurance Cover Pre-Existing Conditions?
No. Once your pet develops a condition, it is not eligible for coverage with pet insurance. You can still insure them for anything else, but pet insurance companies will not cover those conditions.
Should I Get a Wellness Plan?
It depends. Typically, wellness plans don’t pay out enough to justify the cost. However, it does enable you to schedule those payments into something predictable each month.
Getting a wellness plan lets you set up a monthly payment for routine vet expenses, which ensures that you don’t accidentally skip one and that you don’t come out of pocket on the expenses all at once.
Which Pet Insurance Provider Is Best for You?
It depends on your budget and what you need, but for most pets, we recommend sticking with one of our top two choices, Trupanion or Wagmo. Trupanion is great if you can afford the high monthly payments, and it can save you money in the long run because it won’t raise rates as your pet gets older. That said, Wagmo offers outstanding coverage with low monthly premiums.
Take a look at your budget and what your pet needs, and then pick a plan that fits your budget and your pet!
Conclusion
No matter what plan you decide to go with, don’t put it off for too long. Pet insurance plans don’t cover any pre-existing conditions, so if something happens to your pet, you can’t pick up a pet insurance policy after the fact to cover it.
There are also waiting periods until you’re eligible to use the insurance, so you want to sign up as soon as possible to get the protection that your pet needs.
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Featured Image Credit: Cat Studio, Shutterstock
