ASPCA | Pet Insurance Review

I'm going to take part of the responsibility here in that we were naive to the number of pet insurance companies out there and just went with ASCPA because of who they were affiliated with. Big mistake. We signed up for our insurance in June. We went with the second highest coverage (Premier) for our lab mix. New Years Eve he slipped in the yard, tore his ACL and needed surgery. We knew we were going to have to eat part of the cost, but were thankful we were going to get at least part of it back. We went ahead with the surgery and submitted our claim. Whoops! ACL surgery is not covered for the first 12 months...and since you renew every year, you have to basically pony up for an entire year before they will cover something major. Many of the other pet insurance companies begin ACL coverage after just six months, which we would have been well inside of with another outfit. This is also much more expensive than other companies I have since compared it with. I plan to cancel my coverage at the end of the month after I've had his check-up and teeth cleaned...which they are supposed to pay for, so my $500 worth of premiums won't be completely wasted.

I really hate this company. They have some crazy "pre-existing" condition policies that get sprung on you when you least expect (or can afford) it... basically, they claim that ANY condition that has EVER been filed (and how many times might you have a puppy/dog with a stomach ache in its lifetime, for example...), it will NEVER be covered again after the calendar year that you first file it. An ongoing condition (for instance, my dog has epilepsy, which controlled by medication, but she is supposed to get her blood levels monitored every year or so) - that is first diagnosed in December of 2007 will suddenly become A PRE-EXISTING condition as of Jan 1 2008, and nothing - medication, vet checks, etc - will EVER be covered for that illness ever again. This has cost me a lot of money. I have wanted to cancel for years, but keep it because my dog is a senior and i expect there will be more illness to come, but I HATE this company. they truly make up their own rules to suit their bottom line - they are not a god company.

I had VPI and the same experience with no pay or little pay. I have three shelties. I switched to ASPCA. After speaking to their representative for a long time he explained how they figure the charges and it definitely is better done this way than the way the others do it. Getting a check for $10 for a $200 bill is something I didn't like after the cost of the insurance. My oldest also has lyme disease and after one antibiotic treatment which was not enough, VPI turned all the subsequent treatments down and didn't pay anything. Rip off.

My Puppy was enrolled in ASPCA insurance and ended up having pretty severe allergies. For the first year ASPCA was pretty good about paying on my claims. HOWEVER after renewing my policy (I never missed a day of payments) they told me chronic conditions like allergies are not covered after the first year!!! So if your pet gets diabetes, or glaucoma, or arthritis, or anything which is considered on going SORRY you are out of luck next year they won't pay for it. And then you are stuck because NO other company will pay on pre-existing conditions. Even the ones who say that they will only pay between 100- 200 dollars over the lifetime of the pet. PLEASE STAY AWAY!

Although I have had a couple of negative experiences with Petshealth, I must say that they seem to be the ONLY pet insurance company willing to insure older pets. They will insure dogs up to 13 years and cats up to 15 years. They will even insure the pet with their top plan, regardless of age, if there are no pre-existing conditions. I have a 13 year-old cat who has never been sick a day in his life. I was able to insure him with Petshealth under their most extensive plan. A few things to watch out for, though. First, unless you get their top plan that covers chronic and/or recurring illnesses, if your pet is diagnosed with some illness and/or injury in one plan period, as soon as the plan period renews, it is considered a pre-existing condition and coverage will stop. This is a bad deal if, say, your pet is diagnosed with cancer a week before your plan renews because in just one week, the coverage for the cancer will stop. That's crappy. Also beware that any congenital and/or hereditary condition is not covered on ANY of their plans. So, that immediately excludes a boatload of illnesses as there are lots and lots of disorders known in hundreds of breeds. But, again, if you need to insure a senior pet, this is probably the only option you really have.