Pet Insurance Review - compare rates & benefits     Home | Blog | About | For Vets | Contact   Browse: Pet Insurance 101 Dog Insurance Cat Insurance Canada Dog Insurance Canada Cat Insurance How To: Get Quotes Select an Insurer Make a Claim Save Money Find Vets US Pet Insurers Hartville Embrace  Petfirst Healthcare Petplan USA Trupanion VPI AKC Pets Best 24PetWatch PurinaCare ASPCA Healthy Paws Canada Pet Insurers PetCare Trupanion Petsecure PurinaCare PC Financial Hbc  Petfirst Healthcare Other Options Pet Assure Banfield PetSmart PETCO United Pet Care Breeds UK Pet Insurance Privacy Pet First Healthcare One Quartermaster Court Jeffersonville, IN 47130 phone: (866) 937-PETS (7387) US website: http://www.petfirsthealthcare.com Canadian website: http://www.petfirsthealthcare.ca US claim form CA claim form PetFirst Healthcare offers easy to understand lifelong coverage for dogs and cats. PetFirst’s offers coverage with no per diagnosis limits and premiums unaffected by age, breed or location. The Family Plan from PetFirst allows owners to insure multiple pets under one policy. PetFirst recently started selling insurance throughout Canada. Customer Ratings 60 days 1 year Lifetime Rating 0.0 7.8 7.9 Count 0 16 102 add your rating Most Helpful Reviews of Pet First 10/10   The best insurance plan I've found for my clients., 1/11/2008 Reviewed By: Dr. Jen Emerson, Adel, Iowa, Recommend: Y 1. If you look at the ratings, the only one higher is PetPlan USA. Pet First has an excellent rating! 2. Routine care coverage is built into PetFirst. There is no routine care coverage for PetPlan. 3. Low premiums and deductibles are standard with Pet First. Rates do NOT go up with claim submission. PetPlan's monthly premium is twice as much as PetFirst. Yes, pre-existing conditions are excluded from the insurance, but most insurance plans have this. If you pet already has a condition, use PetPlan and pay more. If your pet doesn't have a condition, you now can have an affordable comprehensive policy. Here's how I see it: The disadvantage to most pet insurance is that they don’t cover pre-existing conditions. Most people ask about insurance once their pet has been diagnosed with a life long problem. Most insurance will not cover that problem. Pet insurance also does not cover long-term conditions that “manifest in a previous policy year.” This is true for every pet insurance policy that I’ve evaluated. This seems sad, but it’s not that bad. Let’s take diabetes for example. Upon initial evaluation of a newly diagnosed diabetic you may spend $200. You pay the $200 to the veterinary office, and then get 90% of the $150 remaining after the $50 deductible. Your pet comes back for more bloodwork and evaluation in regards to the diabetes in 1 month. The same diagnosis of diabetes applies, but it’s still covered and paid up to the “per incident” limit. For the basic plan, this is $1500. You’ve already paid your deductible, so 90% of this next visit is reimbursed and so on and so forth as long as you own the policy on this pet until $1500 has been paid to you for the diagnosis of diabetes over the course of time. Once the limit has been met and more health care is needed, they no longer pay. For this reason, I recommend the middle plan, called the preferred plan with the $2500 per incident limit. $2500 of coverage for one diagnosis is more complete for most problems. Some orthopedic conditions that happen may exceed this with a specialist, but it is still much more complete coverage. The other thing to consider is secondary problems. If we take our first example, diabetes, we know that urinary tract infections are more common in diabetics. If a diagnosis of urinary tract infection occurs, it is separate with a PetFirst insurance plan (It's considered an excluded coverage with some other insurance companies). It is paid at 90% after the deductible is met even if it’s a result of the other condition, diabetes. Once the infection is deemed cleared upon re-evaluation of the urine sample, another infection may happen, but it too would be covered. It was cleared, and then happened again, so again applies to the $50 deductible and 90% coverage again the next time. You don’t have to worry about lifetime diagnosis per incident caps unlike other long-term conditions. Routine care: Routine care benefits are on services and products should be done each year for the pet’s health. For example, a cat’s annual vaccines may cost somewhere between $60 and $95 depending on their age eligibility for the three year rotation vaccination program in our office. There are no deductibles on routine care, so reimbursement would be what you paid up to $70. If you did all of the yearly needs for a pet (worm checks, bloodwork, teeth cleanings, etc…), you would be reimbursed $220 for the year for the pet. An average pet with the basic plan pays about $25 per month for the insurance. That’s $300 for the year. When you keep your pet healthy with the routine preventative care, you get $220 back (assuming your pet needed and you elected to do all of the routine care benefits covered); thus spending only $80 to cover your pet for any other visit. If your pet had all of the routine care and had another visit that cost over $139, you are getting reimbursed more than you paid for the insurance for a year. If your pet ever came in for anything else during the year, that visit is covered at 90%. Let’s say your pet got a urinary tract infection. You may spend $200 in exam, urinalysis, meds, etc… There is a $50 deductible, then 90% of the remaining ($150) is paid. In this example, that’s $135 that is reimbursed. Insurance does allow you to afford the best care for your pet. View Comments (8) | Was this review helpful to you?         3/10   Read the Exclusions, 11/28/2007 Reviewed By: Melu, Recommend: N Based on the pretty good reviews here I was about to give PetFirst a try but thankfully read their exclusions prior to signing up. The most concerning exclusion is the second-to-last in their list and reads as follows: "Continuous coverage of chronic and long term conditions that manifest in a previous policy year". Which I understand to mean that if your pet were unlucky enough to be diagnosed with a chronic or long-term illness at the end of your policy year, this illness will not be covered anymore, even if you renewed your policy for another year. I'd say: Buyer beware, because these kinds of illnesses are usually the ones that are the most costly and to discover that you do not have coverage for these anymore because your policy is up for renewal - I don't know. Sounds like a raw deal to me. View Comments (21) | Was this review helpful to you?         10/10   Certainly Worth the Money!, 8/17/2007 Reviewed By: Krista, Recommend: Y My dog had several parasites as a puppy and it ended up costing us over 1000 dollars. Once he was better I set out to get some pet insurance for him. I read lots of reviews and decided on Pet First Insurance with Routine Care. I have had the policy for 6 months and have already gotten a lot more out of it than I have paid for it! They charge a 50 dollar deductible for illness or accident claims, but they reimburse 90% after that (no deductible for routine care). See my claims below from the last six months (the first dollar amount is what it cost me, the second is how much they reimbursed): Approved Max Accident / Illness femoral fracture $204.45 $184.01 Approved Max Routine Heartworm Preventive Medication $45.00 $25.80 Approved Max Accident / Illness fractured femur $458.10 $367.29 Approved Max Routine Spay/Neuter $90.00 $75.00 Approved Max Routine Prescription Flea Control January-June $17.00 $15.30 Approved Max Routine Prescription Flea Control January-June $15.00 $13.50 Approved Max Routine Heartworm Preventive Medication $6.00 $5.40 Approved Max Routine DHL-P Canine Vaccine $25.00 $22.50 As you can see all my claims have been approved and I've been reimbursed $708.80 in the last six months! The only thing I recommend is to get the middle coverage (35 dollars a month). Max almost had to have surgury when he fractured his femur and we would have maxed out our 2500 dollars per accident we get with the basic plan. Great company, I highly recommend! View Comments (1) | Was this review helpful to you?           Read more reviews... | Add your own review Most Recent Reviews 2/10   Pet first problem, On a routine exam, Cryptorchid was discovered on my male dog (a retained testicle in the abdomen). This… read more Added 2/11/2012 by: Laura   10/10   Pet ins was the best decision I've made so far, I purchased pet insurance from PetFirst Healthcare in May 2011 for my 2 mixed breed dogs. A boy and girl ages… read more Added 2/4/2012 by: Azja   5/10   Undiagnosed problem labeled as "chronic", Our otherwise healthy dog has had problems with his mouth--ulcers/lacerations, jaw pain, swollen lymph nodes,… read more Added 12/5/2011 by: Anne   10/10   Superceded My Expectations!, Tommy got diagnosed with renal failure at the Vets. The first Vet said that he only had two weeks to live, so… read more Added 11/30/2011 by: Michelle   10/10   Great coverage - fast processing, This was my second claim with Petfirst Healthcare. My dog suffered a torn ear while playing with another dog… read more Added 11/15/2011 by: Amber   10/10   Great insurance !So happy I switched from VPI !!!, Did not have any trouble at all with my claim!! Sent them all the info they needed and head back with in 5… read more Added 10/22/2011 by: Laura   3/10   Gone Downhill Fast, I have had this insurance since 2008 and used to recommend this insurance to everyone I knew with pets. Within… read more Added 10/7/2011 by: Joan Harden   Review Pet First review policy Review Title (if you could say it in one sentence, what would you say?) Your Review (tips) DO tell us specifics about your pet's illness or injury DO tell us whether you were happy with how your claim was handled DON'T use profanity or personal insults DON'T write in ALL CAPS Overall Rating (1 - worst, 10 - best)     -- please select -- 1 - worst 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - best Would you recommend this company to other pet owners? Yes   No Your Name Tell us about your pet Type: Dog     Cat Breed:   -- please select -- Mixed Breed Affenpinscher Afghan Hound Ainu Dog Airedale Terrier Akita Alaskan Malamute American Bulldog American Cocker Spaniel American Eskimo Dog American Foxhound American Hairless Terrier American Staffordshire Terrier American Water Spaniel Anatolian Shepherd Dog Anglo-french Hounds Appenzell Mountain Dog Ariegeois Armant Artois Hound Atlas Dog Australian Cattle Dog Australian Kelpie Australian Shepherd Australian Short-haired Pinscher Australian Silky Terrier Australian Terrier Austrian Coarse-haired Hound Austrian Hound Auvergne Setter Balkan Hound Banjara Greyhound Basenji Basset Artesien Normand Basset Griffon Vandeen Basset Hound Bavarian Mountain Dog Beagle Beagle Harrier Bearded Collie Beauce Shepherd Beauceron Bedlington Terrier Beldington Terrier Belgian Malinois Belgian Sheepdog Belgian Shepherd Belgian Shepherd Malinois Belgian Shepherd Tervuren Belgian Tervuren Bergamasco Berger De Bresse Berger De Savoie Berger Du Languedoc Bernese Hound Bernese Mountain Dog Bichon Frise Billy Black And Tan Coonhound Black Forest Hound Bloodhound Blue Heeler Blue Lacy Bluetick Coonhound Bolognese Border Collie Border Terrier Borzoi Bosnian Coarse-haired Hound Boston Terrier Bourbonnais Setter Bouvier Des Flandres Boxer Boykin Spaniel Brazilian Guard Dog Brazilian Tracker Briard Briquet Griffon Vendeen Brittany Broholmer Brussels Griffon Bull Terrier Bulldog Bullmastiff Cairn Terrier Canaan Dog Cane Corso Cardigan Corgis Cardigan Welsh Corgi Carolina Dog Catahoula Leopard Catalonian Shepherd Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Cesky Terrier Charplaninatz Chesapeake Bay Retriever Chihuahua Chinese Crested Dog Chinook Chow Chow Clumber Spaniel Cockapoo Cocker Spaniel Collie Coton De Tulear Curly-Coated Retriever Czech Coarse-haired Setter Czesky Terrier Dachsbrackes Dachshund Dachshunds Dalmatian Dalmatian Mix Dandie Dinmont Terrier Danish-Swedish Farm Deerhound Deutsche Wachtelhund Dingo Doberman Dogo Argentino Dogue De Bordeaux Drentse Partridge Dog Drever Dunker Dupuy Setter Dutch Shepherds Elkhound English Bull Terrier English Bulldog English Cocker Spaniel English Coonhound English Foxhound English Setter English Shepherd English Springer Spaniel English Toy Spaniel English Toy Terrier Entlebuch Mountain Dog Eskimo Dog Estonian Hound Estrela Mountain Dog Eurasier Feist Field Spaniel Fila Finnish Hound Finnish Spitz Flat-coated Retriever Fox Terrier French Bulldog French Hounds French Setter French Spaniel Gascons-saintongeois German Hunt Terrier German Pointer German Shepherd German Shorthaired Pointer German Spaniel German Spitz German Wirehaired Pointer Giant Schnauzer Glen Of Imaal Terrier Golden Retriever Goldendoodle Gordon Setter Grand Griffon Vandeen Great Dane Great Gascons-Saintongeois Great Gascony Blue Great Pyrenean Great Pyrenees Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Greek Greyhound Greenland Dog Greyhound Griffon Vendeen Haldenstovare Hamiltonstovare Hanover Hound Harlequin Pinscher Harrier Havanese Hellenic Hound Hovawart Hungarian Coarse-Haired Vizsla Hungarian Greyhound Hungarian Kuvasz Hungarian Puli Hungarian Vizsla Hygenhund Ibizan Hound Ibizan Wolfhound Iceland Sheepdog Intalian Greyhound Irish Red Setter Irish Setter Irish Terrier Irish Water Spaniel Irish White Setter Irish Wolfhound Istrian Hounds Italian Greyhound Italian Segugio Italian Setter Italian Spinone Italian Spitz Jack Russell Terrier Jamthund Japanese Akita Japanese Chin Japanese Fighting Dog Japanese Kai Ken Japanese Kishu Japanese Spitz Japanese Terrier Jindo Jura Hounds Kangal Dog Kangaroo Hound Karelian Bear Dog Karst Shepherd Keeshond Kerry Blue Terrier King Charles Spaniel King Shepherd Komondor Kooikerhondje Kromfohrlander Kuvasz Labrador Mix Labrador Retriever Labradoodle Laikas Lakeland Terrier Lancashire Heeler Lapland Spitz Lapponian Herder Large Munsterlanders Leonberger Levesque Lhasa Apso Llewellin Setter Lowchen Lucernese Hound Lundehund Lurcher Majestic Tree Hound Majorcan Bulldog Maltese Manchester Terrier Maremma Sheepdog Mastiff Mexican Hairless Dog Miki Mini Doxin Miniature Bull Terrier Miniature Dachshund Miniature Pinscher Miniature Poodle Miniature Schnauzer Miniature Spitz Miniature Yorkie Mixed Breed Mountain Cur Mudi Neopolitan Mastiff New Guinea Singing Dog Newfoundland Nivernais Griffon Norfolk Terrier Norwegian Buhund Norwegian Elkhound Norwich Terrier Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Oeruvian Inca Orchid Old Danish Pointer Old English Bulldogge Old English Sheepdog Otterhound Papillon Parson Jack Russell Terrier Peek-a-poo Pekingese Pembroke Welsh Corgi Peruvian Inca Orchid Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen Petit Brabancon Pharaoh Hound Picardy Shepherd Pinscher Pit Bull Plott Hound Pointer Poitevin Polish Lowland Sheepdog Pomeranian Pont-audemer Spaniel Poodle Poodle (toy) Porcelaine Portuguese Podengo Portuguese Setter Portuguese Sheepdog Portuguese Watchdog Portuguese Water Dog Posavatz Hound Presa Canario Pudelpointer Pug Puli Pumi Pyrenean Mastiff Pyrenean Mountain Dog Pyrenean Shepherds Queensland Heeler Rafeiro Do Alentejo Rat Terrier Redbone Coonhound Rhodesian Ridgeback Rottweiler Rough Collie Rumanian Shepherd Dog Russian Hounds Russian Sheepdog Saint Bernard Saint-german Setter Saluki Samoyed Schapendoes Schiller Hound Schipperke Schnauzer Scottish Deerhound Scottish Terrier Sealyham Terrier Shar-pei Shar-pei Mix Sheltie Shepherd Mix Shetland Sheepdog Shiba Inu Shih Tzu Shiloh Shepherd Siberian Huskey Siberian Husky Sicilian Hound Silky Terrier Skye Terrier Sloughi Slovakian Kuvasz Sluki Smaland Hound Small Blue Gascony Griffon Small Gascons-Saintongeois Small Gascony Blue Small Munsterlanders Small-sized French Setter Smooth Collie Smooth Fox Terrier Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Spanish Greyhound Spanish Hounds Spanish Mastiff Spanish Pointer Spinone Italiano Spitz Springer Spaniel Stabyhoun Staffordshire Bull Terrier Staffordshire Terrier Standard Poodle Standard Schnauzer Steinbracke Stephens` Stock Sussex Spaniel Swedish Grey Dog Swedish Vallhund Swiss Hound Tahltan Bear Dog Tawny Brittany Basset Tawny Brittany Griffon Teacup Poodle Teacup Yorkie Telomian Terrier Terrier Mix Thai Ridgeback Tibetan Mastiff Tibetan Spaniel Tibetan Terrier Tosa Inu Toy Poodle Translvanian Hound Treeing Tennessee Brindle Tyrolean Hound Vizsla Walker Hound Weimaraner Welsh Corgis Welsh Springer Spaniel Welsh Terrier West Highland Terrier West Highland White Terrier Wetterhound Wheaten Terrier Whippet Wire Fox Terrier Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Wooly-Haired Griffon Yellow Lab Yorkshire Terrier Yugoslavian Mountain Dog -- please select -- Mixed Breed Abyssinian American Bobtail American Curl American Curl Shorthair American Longhair American Shorthair American Wirehair Angora Balinese Bengal Bengalese Burmese Birman Bombay British Shorthair Burmilla Calico California Spangled Cameo Longhair Chartreux Chausie Chinchilla Colorpoint Colorpoint Longhair Colorpoint Shorthair Cornish Rex Cymric Devon Rex Domestic Longhair Domestic Mediumhair Domestic Shorthair Egyptian Mau European Burmese European Shorthair Exotic Exotic Longhair Exotic Shorthair Havana Brown Highland Fold Himalayan Himalayan Blue Point Himalayan Flame Point Himalayan Lilac Point Himalayan Seal Point Japanese Bobtail Kashmir Korat Maine Coon Manx Mixed Breed Moggie Munchkin Nibelung Norwegian Forest Ocicat Oriental Oriental Colorpoint Oriental Longhair Oriental Shorthair Persian Pinto Pixie Bob Ragdoll Russian Blue Savannah Scottish Fold Scottish Fold Longhair Selkirk Rex Selkirk Rex Longhair Seychellois Siamese Siberian Singapura Snowshoe Somali Sphynx Tabby Tiffanie Tonkinese Turkish Angora Turkish Van Age (at the time of your claim):   Under a year   1 - 8   Over 8 years     Tell us about your claim Type of illness or accident: not sure ear problem eye problem skin problem cancer gastritis/vomiting enteritis/diarrhea bladder renal (kidney) thyroid other: Claim amount -- please select -- under $100 $100 - $500 $500 - $1000 over $1000 Time taken to handle claim -- please select -- 1 week or less 1 - 2 weeks 2 - 3 weeks 3+ weeks   Verify that you are a customer I certify that I am (or was) a customer of this pet insurance company and that I have not been offered a reward, financial or otherwise, by the insurer for writing this review.   We have zero tolerance for fake reviews! A message to pet insurance management: please do not submit a review! We consider these submissions fraudulent and will immediately remove these from our site. While we support your efforts to encourage honest feedback from customers, we encourage you to submit information here