Pets Best | Pet Insurance Review

After dealing with VPI for several years, and never being paid anything close to what was claimed, I have found Pets Best to be a refreshing alternative to the other companies. While it may have taken me a week or two to get reimbursed, VPI always took 2-3 months, and after all that wait I never received half of the actual bill.

In January one of my cats became severely ill. We did everything we could, and for the first time ever we had money in the bank. In the end we had to euthanize her. It was terrifying to think that we could have wiped out all our funds to cure her, then what if she got sick again, or one of our other five cats? Two weeks later I picked Pets Best and started the pets first plan. In August, I added the wellness first for all of my cats. During this time, I have had one wellness claim and two illnesses.

What I like. They claim you can use any licensed vet worldwide.Since moving overseas is a real possibility for my family, this was important. The deductible is $75 then they pay 80%. No weird benefit schedule or categories of coverage. Customer service reps have always been friendly and curteous with no excessive wait times. With both wellness and illness policies, they will apply wellness benefits first then the illness benefit. The result is getting paid more than if they just used illness coverage.

What I don't like. Twice I was misinformed by customer service about policies and payment. Nearly overdrafted my account putting through a payment that I had been told was not due that month. Claims processing is ridiculously slow. On the web site they claim every effort is made to process claims within no more than 5-7 business days, the target being 48 hours. It takes many weeks! On the site it is implied that they will reimburse you for charges even if your bill is not paid in full. In fact you must pay 100% of the bill first then sit around waiting forever for them to process your claim. My cat was hospitalized for two weeks, required surgery,meds and several trips to the emergency vet. I maxed out all credit cards and savings and took him home owing my vet $1400. I am lucky they know me well since we have been using them for over 4 years. They worked out a payment plan. What happens when I move? No vet is going to provide thousands of dollars worth of care to unknown clients and Pets Best won't pay them directly. Other problems are no online account management or claims processing. No option to pay vet directly. Coverage is done quarterly not yearly and every quarter my premiums go up. I pay $262 per month for five cats ages 12,10 & 7. I am researching alternative companies and plan to try several before deciding who offers the best service. I can't see still being with this company a year from now. I feel like they are not ready.