Embrace | Pet Insurance Review

I bought a policy for my dog in April of 2008. She had a freak and tragic accident in June of 2008 and spent a day and a half in a coma on a ventilator in ICU before she passed away. It was an awful time and a huge expense. Embrace was caring, competent and efficient throughout. They handled much of the document gathering for me since it was a very traumatic time and paid their 90% of the claim quickly. I added two more puppies to my household in recent months, and buying an Embrace policy for each one was on the top of my list of things to take care of with each. The Embrace CEO personally contacted me to congratulate our family on our new additions and were excited for us. They had passed the photos I emailed to them all around their office. I recommend them highly!

I have a 14 months old German shepherd and I signed up with Embrace because the company claims to cover genetic or breed-specific conditions. German shepherds are prone to hip or elbow dysplasia. I signed with Embrace when my dog reached the age of 11 months. I wanted to be out of the waiting period by the time my dog gets his x-ray evaluation (I am a competitive trainer and my breed organization's minimum age for hip and elbow a-stamp evaluation is 12 months of age). I had my dog's x-rays taken a few days after he turned 12 months. His hips turned out great, but both of his elbows were dysplastic. Because my dog is still very young, his vet recommended surgery as soon as possible to prevent any ongoing damage. I asked Embrace to pre-approve my claim and to my surprise received a denial. When my dog was diagnosed with ED, I told the veterinarian that I never noticed any symptoms other than a slight limp on my dog's forelegs when he was about 5 months old. The limp however disappeared after about a week and some Glucosamine supplements (my dogs weight almost doubled since then and he now weights more than 100 lbs.) Embrace found this statement in the vet's notes and claimed that my dogs elbow dysplasia was a pre-existing condition because it showed clinical signs prior to insurance coverage. I responded to Embrace that all of my previous German shepherds limped at some point as puppies (I had 5 so far) but none of them was ever diagnosed with ED. That did not matter. To say that I am disappointed with Embrace is an understatement. I find it outrageous that Embrace advertises its coverage of genetic or breed-specific conditions but then argues that those were pre-existing when it comes to a claim. Of course they are pre-existing that's why we call them genetic disease. I am terminating my policy with Embrace today because I lost complete faith in their business practices. Buyer beware, if your dog has ever limped at some point prior to getting insurance with Embrace, any claims related to your dog's musculoskeletal system could be simply denied for that reason.

I would recommend Embrace to anyone! Their representatives (easier to reach via email than phone) are fast and VERY helpful. They let me know exactly what they needed from me, and even followed up with my vet themselves to get the paperwork necessary to process my claim. They were friendly and I just can't say enough about how pleasant the experience was. They cover what they say they cover and my claim was handled quickly. I will definitely be staying with them!

Sadly, I'm quite experienced with pet insurance. My dog has had PetCare for years, only to discover when she was diagnosed with breast cancer that upon renewal, her policy would consider this a pre-existing condition despite the fact that there was no lapse of coverage. My first cat had VPI which is so horrendously poor at covering actual expenses (versus a ridiculously low "covered amount") that it was more expensive for us to have him insured and pay his bills, rather than simply pay his bills. And then for our second cat, we did some research and got Embrace.It has been an eye-opening experience into what insurance could be. Our claims are immediately acknowledged by email and even when claims are denied (which happened to us for dental: these need to be pre-approved), we get the nicest emails. We are now switching all of our animals to Embrace at the expiration of their current policies.

I submitted my first claim to Embrace on 12/8/08 and it has not yet been processed. Looks like the typical delay tactic of insurance companies. I am switching to VPI.