Managing your pet’s well-being is valuable and important when caring for it. And because of how important it is, it costs a fortune.
According to the American Pet Products Association, pet parents spend an average of $235 (for dogs) and $196 (for cats) for routine wellness care each year.
With a pet insurance policy that covers pets’ well-being, you can cover those unexpected costs and protect your pet if it becomes ill or injured.
But the question is, how much pet insurance offers preventive care?
Truth is, among the hundreds of pet insurance that exist, only a few cover preventive and routine care and other pet policies.
We’ve compiled a list of the 9 pet insurance companies on the market to assist you in finding the best pet insurance provider for you and your pet.
Before we proceed, you can read more about best Dog Insurance if you’re a lover of dogs.
Table of contents
- What is a dog’s or cat’s Preventative Care?
- When it comes to Preventative Care, what does basic Pet Insurance cover?
- Preventive Package for Puppies and Kittens
- What isn’t covered by Pet Preventative Plans?
- Is it necessary to have Preventive Care for your pet if you have pet insurance?
- What is the Pet Insurance that covers Preventive Care?
- Conclusion
- Reference
- Recommendations
What is a dog’s or cat’s Preventative Care?
A wellness visit for your pet is part of preventative care, and it allows your veterinarian to check for parasites, heartworm, and other early-stage health issues.
Vaccines, flea and tick medication, heartworm prevention, and dental cleanings are examples of proactive treatments, procedures, and prophylactics that can help keep your pet healthy in the future.
Because reactive treatments are usually more expensive than proactive treatments, these tend to save you money in the long run.
During a wellness exam, your veterinarian can also monitor your pet’s diet, physical activity, weight, and other factors.
However, remember that your pet insurance may not cover all treatments that benefit your pet’s health.
When it comes to Preventative Care, what does basic Pet Insurance cover?
Although a basic pet insurance policy will help cover emergency care costs and standard treatments for your pets, most accident and illness insurance plans do not cover preventative care.
Certain pet insurance companies will let you customize your coverage by including preventative care, which will help you get reimbursed for the costs of some routine care.
Consider how much you spend on heartworm tests, vaccinations, wellness exams, fecal tests, and bloodwork.
Or how much microchipping, spaying/neutering, and vaccinations for puppies and kittens cost.
You’re almost certainly already paying more for your pet’s medical and annual wellness visits than preventative care coverage would cost.
The Lemonade pet health insurance basic preventive package includes the following:
A basic accident and illness policy (like x-rays, medication, and surgeries for an eligible accident or illness will cover many of your pet’s unexpected needs).
Read Also: 11 Best Pet Insurance in New York City
Preventive Package for Puppies and Kittens
If your pet is under two, we’ve created the Puppy/Kitten Preventative package, specifically designed to provide young pets with the care they need to stay healthy.
Two wellness exams, six vaccines, two fecal or internal parasite tests, spay/neuter, microchipping, and heartworm or flea/tick medication are all covered.
Basically, everything your puppy or kitten requires to mature into a healthy adult!
What isn’t covered by Pet Preventative Plans?
Different insurance companies will have different coverage options for any preventative care plans they offer.
Pet insurance doesn’t usually cover grooming and nail trimming, even though they are technically preventative care because they keep your pet healthy.
Some pet parents may want extra coverage for teeth cleanings, physical therapy, or behavioral treatments. They should double-check their pet insurance policy to see what’s covered and what isn’t.
Is it necessary to have Preventive Care for your pet if you have pet insurance?
If you’re serious about keeping your pet healthy, consider adding a preventative care option to your policy.
Preventative care for your pet can give you peace of mind—especially if your pet is still young; preventative care can help your pet avoid developing health problems later in life.
Because our pets tend to hide signs of illness or injury, routine checkups, and general preventive care are especially important for cats and dogs.
Because your pet can’t tell you when something is wrong, you’ll have a harder time noticing if they’re suffering from an infection that could be treated with a simple deworming.
Your veterinarian will gain a better understanding of your pet’s habits, general health, and temperament with regular visits.
If your pet is nervous, these wellness exams can help establish a sense of familiarity, reducing the stress of future vet visits.
Your first responsibility as a pet parent is to ensure your pet is well cared for.
However, it’s important to remember that pets will live longer and healthier lives if they visit the veterinarian regularly rather than just when something is wrong with them.
What is the Pet Insurance that covers Preventive Care?
Here is the best pet insurance that covers preventive care:
- ASCPA Pet Health Insurance
- Embrace
- Progressive Pet Insurance
- USAA
- Pumpkin
- Pet Assure
- Lemonade
- Spot
- Nationwide
1. ASPCA Pet Health Insurance
With the Complete Coverage plan from the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance, pet owners can choose from three add-on preventive-care options (more here). Here’s what each extra option entails:
- Fundamentals
- Dental cleaning or neutering/spaying
- Health check-up
- Worm removal
- Vaccination with DHLPP/FVRCP
- Vaccination for rabies, Lyme disease, or FIP
- Fecal examination
- Test for heartworm and FeLV
Read Also: Topic: ASPCA Pet Insurance Reviews
2. Embrace Pet Insurance
Embrace’s Wellness Rewards for Routine Care plan covers all of your veterinary expenses daily.
Wellness Rewards is a routine care program reimburses pet owners for their pet’s routine veterinary, grooming, and training expenses, with no per-item limits.
It’s an add-on plan that pet owners can purchase in addition to their existing Embrace insurance policy. Here’s a sample of what’s covered:
- Medical examinations
- Vaccinations and titers
- Anti-flea, anti-tick, and anti-heartworm medications
- Fecal examinations
- Blood tests regularly
- Embedding microchips
- Behavioral modification
- Dental disease and teeth cleaning
- Chiropractic care, reiki, massage therapy, and acupuncture are alternative modalities.
- Diet food recommended by your veterinarian that you can buy at your clinic
- Personal grooming
- Cremation and interment
Read Also: Best Pet Insurance that covers Spaying | Full Review
3. Progressive Pet Insurance
One pet insurance company that covers preventative care is Progressive pet insurance. Three insurance plans are available with this pet insurance: illness, accident, and wellness.
They sell their policies through PetBest, one of the world’s leading pet insurance companies. They have two types of preventive care policies: the EssentialWellness Plan and the BestWellness Plan.
The EssentialWellness Plan has annual benefits of up to $305, and the BestWellness Plan has annual benefits of up to $535.
The following is a list of the services covered by these plans:
- Cleaning of the teeth
- Tick and flea prevention
- Vaccines
- Exams for your health
- Tests on the blood
- Microchipping
- Deworming
The only disadvantage of this pet insurance preventive care policy is that it is more expensive than the other plans.
The EssetialWellness plan costs around $16 per month, while the BestWellness plan costs around $26.
The insurance cost is determined by the animal, breed, deductible, and annual coverage limit. You can, however, choose a deductible between $50 and $1,000.
To summarize, Progressive pet insurance allows you to take your pet to any licensed veterinarian in the country, with a three-day waiting period for accident coverage and a 14-day waiting period for illness coverage.
4. USAA
Aside from USAA Auto insurnace, USAA also offers a pet insurance policy that covers preventive care. Because they have all insurance policies, it is known as the go-to military provider for all types of insurance.
They offer accident-only coverage, accident and illness coverage, and a wellness benefits rider for pet insurance plans (preventive and routine care).
Vaccinations and microchipping are included in their preventive care policies.
When it comes to price, USAA’s pet insurance is extremely affordable. Annual policies start at just $68.
The company doesn’t disclose the deductible options, but if you buy coverage directly from Embrace, you can choose between $200 and $500 as a deductible.
5. Pet Assure
Pet Assure has plans for one cat, and one dog, a family plan for up to four animals of any size, and an unlimited plan for all pets in your home.
The best part is that you won’t have to wait to use your coverage. All of Pet Assure’s plans include discounts on veterinary services, such as treatments for:
- Accidents
- Illnesses
- Preventive medicine
- Pre-existing ailments
6. Pumpkin
Pumpkin is another great option for pet insurance policies that cover preventative care and wellness.
This pet insurance stands out because it offers a preventative care add-on that reimburses you in full for wellness care your pet received before the policy began.
It also includes a refund for up to four vaccines for dogs under six months.
This pet insurance company offers a plan with a reimbursement rate of 90%.
It pays for your pet’s medical expenses following accidents and injuries, such as broken bones, swallowed objects, bite wounds, hereditary conditions, cancer, dental illnesses, behavioral issues, etc.
Pre-existing conditions, anal gland expression, breeding, elective procedures, boarding fees, and other things are not included.
In addition, the Preventative Essentials Pack add-on includes one blood test for heartworms and tick disease, one annual check-up exam fee, one worm feces test, and two vaccines (four for puppies).
In the meantime, it covers the cost of one fecal test, vaccine, and annual check-up exam for cats.
7. Spot
Spot Pet Insurance is a great option for pet owners seeking a low-cost accident-only policy.
Spot’s policies currently cover a few items that many other pet insurance companies, such as exam fees and micro-chipping, don’t cover.
This feature sets it apart from the majority of pet insurance providers.
For coverage on unexpected injuries or other conditions, such as dental disease, cancer, heart disease, and more, Spot offers an accident-only plan and an accident and illness plan. It, like other pet insurance companies, does not cover pre-existing conditions.
Regarding preventive care policies, it offers two options: the Gold Plan and the Platinum Plan, which can be added to your pet’s plan.
The Gold Plan covers wellness treatments like dental cleanings, vaccines, fecal tests, and more for $250 annually.
On the other hand, the Platinum Plan covers everything in the Gold Plan plus spay and neutering, bloodwork, and more for $450 per year.
8. Lemonade
If you’re looking for a low-cost preventive care pet insurance option, Lemonade is a good choice.
The company offers an impressive mobile app for managing your pet’s health, filing claims, and keeping track of your policy coverage and billing.
Lemonade offers a single plan that covers diagnostic tests, hospitalizations, surgery, cancer treatments, correcting broken bones or sprains, prescription medications, and more for accidents and illnesses.
Pre-existing conditions, elective or cosmetic procedures, and behavioral treatments are not covered.
For an additional monthly fee, it offers a preventative care add-on to your policy that covers wellness exams, heartworm tests, bloodwork, and three vaccines.
In addition to physical therapy treatments, such as chiropractic care and acupuncture, you can include coverage for a vet visit and exam fees.
Read Also: Lemonade Pet Insurance Reviews: Is it Worth it?
9. Nationwide Pet Insurance
Nationwide pet insurance is the only pet insurance plan in the United States that combines injury, illness, and wellness/preventive care into one plan.
All preventive and wellness care is covered under this plan, and members receive 90 percent reimbursement for eligible veterinary expenses (more here).
Nationwide also offers standalone wellness plans for those who don’t want the full wellness package (Wellness Plus and Wellness Basic, respectively). These two cover the following topics:
- Physical examinations
- Psychiatric evaluations and treatments
- Test for heartworm or FeLV
- Fecal examination
- Worm removal
- Trim your nails
- Microprocessor
- Heartworm prevention or flea control
Conclusion
With a pet insurance policy that covers preventive care, you can get relief from those unexpected expenses and protect your pet when it gets sick or injured.
Reference
- Investopedia.com – Best Pet insurance
- Dvm360.com – Does PET INSURANCE COVER PREVENTIVE CARE
- Marketwatch.com – Best Pet Insurance
- Petfirst.com- Prevention with Pet Insurance
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