Dog and cat owners looking for accident and illness coverage
Pet owners with older pets
Those comfortable paying for routine vet visits and vaccinations
Those looking for coverage for vet visits and vaccinations
Pet owners who want more affordable insurance
Exotic pet-owners
Most pet owners are familiar with the sinking feeling of realizing their pet is sick. Aside from the obvious emotional turmoil a pet owner faces when having to take care of a sick pet, the financial strain of constant vet visits and prescriptions can put many in a tight spot.
Buying a pet insurance plan for your pet would give you peace of mind knowing that your pet will be taken care of, regardless of your personal finances.
Apart from covering treatment costs for your sick pet, pet health insurance can also help cover vet bills, routine care, preventative measures to ward off parasites, and even behavioral therapy.
If you’re considering pet insurance, make sure you compare pet insurance quotes, companies, and policies on Insurify today!
Read More: How Much Is a Vet Visit for a Cat Without Insurance?
Trupanion offers pet insurance in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada.
Trupanion has it all covered when it comes to major illnesses your pet might face. The company does not have any exclusions regarding illnesses or injuries or even the treatment your pet might need to recover.
Trupanion covers any and all hereditary, congenital, and unidentified conditions your pet might develop. The only exclusions are for conditions that showed signs before you set up your Trupanion policy or during the stipulated “ waiting periods ” (see below).
For the most part, Trupanion will at least partially cover the costs of your pet’s diagnostic tests, surgeries, hospital stays, medications, vet supplements, herbal therapies, and prosthetic devices. Trupanion offers unlimited payouts, which means Trupanion will cover treatment for your pet no matter how high the cost is. Most other insurance companies limit how much they’re willing to pay for your pet’s treatment per annum or per incident.
However, and this might be a dealbreaker to some, Trupanion doesn’t cover any wellness-related costs. That means Trupanion won’t help pay for your routine examinations and vaccinations, including preventive care like parasite control and spaying or neutering your pet. In the words of Trupanion ’s own website, “ Trupanion was founded to help pets get the emergency care they need, not to help pet owners with routine payments,” so make of that what you will. Like all pet insurance companies, Trupanion won’t cover pre-existing conditions.
Trupanion offers dog and cat owners a core policy with add-ons available if you want to make your policy more robust.
Trupanion ’s core policy covers any and all injuries or illnesses your pet may develop while it’s insured by Trupanion. The only exclusions are any conditions that were showing symptoms before you purchased your policy or during the waiting periods.
Trupanion will cover hereditary conditions like elbow and hip dysplasia, thyroid disease, upper respiratory infections, and even diabetes. The core policy also covers congenital conditions your pet may develop, like heart disease, nervous system issues, renal disease, and cataracts.
If your dog or cat isn’t yet diagnosed with a condition but needs treatment for things like vomiting, diarrhea, changes in weight, or even a bad cough, Trupanion will cover those costs as well.
In addition to Trupanion ’s core policy, the company also offers the following add-ons:
Recovery and Complementary Care Rider
This will extend your insurance to behavior modification therapy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, naturopathy, chiropractor visits, physical therapy, and rehabilitative therapy.
Pet Owner Assistance Package
As the name suggests, this add-on has more to do with you than it does with your pet. This will extend your policy, so if your pet ever goes missing, Trupanion will help advertise your dog or cat, and even put up money for a reward. It will provide you with boarding fees, so your pet has a home if you’re ever hospitalized. It’ll also provide liability coverage if your dog ever damages someone else’s property, and cremation and burial in the unfortunate event your pet dies because of an accident.
Trupanion doesn’t currently insure any other animals aside from dogs and cats. At this time, Nationwide is the only insurance company to offer exotic animal insurance.
Every Trupanion policy comes with a 90 percent reimbursement rate. This means that of whatever services for which your pet is covered, you’ll have to pay for only 10 percent of the total bill. This is not a customizable feature.
Trupanion lets you customize your deductible depending on how much you’re willing to pay for your monthly premium. The higher you set your deductible, the lower your monthly pet insurance rate will be. However, the higher you set your deductible, the more money you’ll have to spend before Trupanion steps in to help you out.
To file a claim with Trupanion, you can use its online tool, where you will have to upload an itemized invoice and describe what the invoice is for. Alternatively, you can download Trupanion ’s claims form, fill it out by hand, scan it, and email it to claims@trupanion.com or fax it to 1 (866) 405-4536. Trupanion will then reimburse you for the costs and send you a check in the mail, or via direct deposit. To set up a direct deposit, you can call 1 (888) 733-2685.
Even if your vet bills are lower than your deductible, you should still file a claim with Trupanion. This is because deductibles are per condition, so if you already spent a certain amount of money during one visit, that will be counted towards your deductible if you make another vet visit for the same condition. While Trupanion has per condition deductibles, other companies have per annum deductibles, which may be better if your pet has multiple health conditions.
Also, Trupanion doesn’t have a payout limit, so it will pay 90 percent of the bill for a covered treatment or condition, regardless of how expensive it is.
Trupanion implements a five-day waiting period for any injuries and a 30-day waiting period for any illnesses. So if your pet happens to get injured within five days or falls sick within 30 days of your policy starting, Trupanion will consider those “ pre-existing conditions ” and not cover any costs related to those illnesses or injuries.
Trupanion has an “Offer Program” where pets can be on a Trupanion policy for 30 days without having to pay anything. Through this program, your pet won’t be subject to usual waiting periods. It works like a free trial for pet insurance, but you’ll still have to pay a $250 deductible. If you want to continue on a Trupanion policy, you should ask Trupanion to extend coverage during your 30-day trial period.
If you decide to continue with a Trupanion policy after the 30-day trial is over, you’ll have to buy it like any other Trupanion policy, where you’ll be subject to waiting periods. And if your pet developed any illnesses or injuries during the offer period, those will be considered pre-existing conditions under your new policy.
Your pet must be under 14 years old to be eligible for the program. You can get a certificate for the offer from a participating veterinarian, shelter, or breeder. Your pet must undergo an exam within 24 hours of receiving the certificate.
To see how Trupanion ’s quotes stacked up to those from its competitors, Insurify’s data team compared pet insurance quotes from Nationwide, Healthy Paws, and PetPlan.
Below are the pet insurance quotes for a two-year-old purebred labrador retriever named Sally who lives in San Jose, California:
| Company Name | Quotes |
|---|---|
| Trupanion | $133/mo |
| Nationwide | $54/mo |
| Healthy Paws | $66/mo |
| Petplan | $89/mo |
These are the pet insurance quotes for a one-year-old German shepherd named Jerry who also lives in San Jose, California:
| Company Name | Quotes |
|---|---|
| Trupanion | $121/mo |
| Nationwide | $36/mo |
| Healthy Paws | $63/mo |
| Petplan | $103/mo |
Finally, these are the quotes for a three-year-old labradoodle named Sandy in San Jose. Mixed breed dogs usually have lower insurance premiums since they aren’t as susceptible to genetic diseases:
| Company Name | Quotes |
|---|---|
| Trupanion | $99/mo |
| Nationwide | $38/mo |
| Healthy Paws | $53/mo |
| Petplan | $68/mo |
Now moving on to cats, these are the cat insurance quotes for Simon, a three-year-old British shorthair who lives in Houston, Texas:
| Company Name | Quotes |
|---|---|
| Trupanion | $63/mo |
| Nationwide | $15/mo |
| Healthy Paws | $16/mo |
| Petplan | $20/mo |
And these are the quotes for Wesley, a mixed-breed cat who also lives in Houston, Texas:
| Company Name | Quotes |
|---|---|
| Trupanion | $73/mo |
| Nationwide | $16/mo |
| Healthy Paws | $14/mo |
| Petplan | $23/mo |
Trupanion tends to be on the more expensive side, compared to competitors like Nationwide, Healthy Paws, and Petplan. Of course, this depends on the level of coverage you purchase and what kind of policy you want for your pet. Either way, you should make sure to compare pet insurance quotes and coverage on Insurify before making a solid decision.
Trupanion ’s own website has plenty of glowing reviews from people who are grateful the company stepped in to shoulder the sky-high bills their pets’ procedures racked up:
What’s interesting about Maelee’s case is that although Trupanion doesn’t cover spaying or neutering procedures, it still paid for the treatment Maelee needed because of complications from spaying.
Unsurprisingly, Trupanion doesn’t have any negative reviews on its own website. Sites like ConsumerAffairs, however, have plenty.
Negative reviews for Trupanion mostly complain about how the company usually denies claims based on an illness being a “ pre-existing condition,” even for conditions that only recently developed. Other reviews similarly criticize Trupanion ’s claims process:
Interestingly, Trupanion didn’t pay for Stacey’s dog’s cancer treatment since the company claims that while it doesn’t pay for routine healthcare, it is “there” for customers during significant illnesses and injuries.
American Pet Insurance Company underwrites all Trupanion policies and is wholly owned by Trupanion. APIC isn’t rated by A.M. Best. However, Demotech gave it an A, which means it’s financially stable and able to pay out claims.
| Customer service | 1 (888) 733-2685 |
| Customer service email | CustomerCare@Trupanion.com |
| Contact | Online form |
| Address | 6100 4th Ave South, Suite 200 Seattle, WA 98108 |
| Website | www.trupanion.com |
It depends. While pet insurance isn’t mandatory, it helps to know your vet bills and treatments are going to be covered regardless of your personal finances. Aside from protecting your pet from future illnesses, pet insurance can also help pay for your regular vet bills and any vaccinations or preventative treatments you want for your pet. In other words, pet insurance can help you prepare for unforeseen medical emergencies and help you pay for regular pet upkeep costs.
Pet insurance rates depend heavily on your pet’s breed, age, pre-existing conditions, and location. On average, however, dog insurance costs about $38 a month, cat insurance costs about $27 a month, bird insurance about $15 a month, and reptile insurance about $8 a month. Again, these rates are heavily subject to the aforementioned factors, as well as the insurance plan you choose. Trupanion tends to be on the more expensive side, but you should compare pet insurance plans before settling on one policy.
Trupanion certainly has a very loyal group of pet owners who say Trupanion was there for them and their pet during times of serious illness and unexpected accidents. But there are also people who say Trupanion’s rates are too expensive and that it’s coverage isn’t robust enough, since it doesn’t cover vet visits and routine vaccinations. Whether Trupanion is a good choice for you comes down to what you can afford and what kind of coverage fits you and your pet best. That’s why you should make sure you compare quotes before settling down on a single pet insurance policy.
