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This blog post was originally written in June 2012; it has been updated with new information and republished.
Over the past month, I’ve been doing a lot of research on pet insurance companies. I started in a group, asking what people thought of pet insurance and learned that there are lovers and haters out there depending upon their experience. I asked the Keep the Tail Wagging audience on Facebook and got some great tips – many people have pet insurance and are happy with their providers.
Why I Chose Trupanion Pet Insurance
- Trupanion offers one deductible for each medical instance
- I can adjust my deductible to match my budget
- Trupanion makes a payment directly to the veterinarian
- Trupanion doesn’t penalize us if we have an unlucky pet
- Trupanion offers full coverage without limits or caps
- Trupanion won’t kick our dogs off a policy
- Trupanion doesn’t have a fee schedule for different medical issues
- Trupanion doesn’t limit coverage based on a dog's breed
- Medications are covered too
- You can choose to have alternative/holistic treatments covered
- Trupanion helps with some of the costs associated with finding a lost dog.
Initially, I planned to go with VPI. The price seemed right and they have a handy comparison chart on their site. But most pet insurance companies do and, you know what, all the charts read differently. I learned that pet insurance companies are not like Progressive Auto Insurance – they won’t tell you that someone else is better.
Great Customer Service
I had the pleasure of speaking with the CEO of the company, Darryl Rawlings. Trupanion is a company that likes to talk to pet lovers. You will not get what you need just by visiting their site. I was overwhelmed by the choices in pet insurance and 30 minutes speaking with Darryl made me a customer.
Trupanion doesn’t see pets as a commodity. Pet insurance isn’t like auto insurance. If we total our car, the insurance company can give us the same make/model/year car. They can’t give us the exact same pet. Darryl asked me one question…“Are you asking for insurance to help you or to solve a problem?”
With a lot of the pet insurance companies out there, I was seeing that if I had a $2,200 bill (the cost of Riley’s hospital care, a puppy who passed away from parvo several years ago), they would reimburse me (for example) $1,000. That’s helping me, but it doesn’t solve the problem that I have of coming up with $2,200 to get our puppy care.
Trupanion helps us solve a problem by submitting payment directly to the veterinarian. Allowing us to focus on our pet's care and not finances.
In my example above, I would have paid my share (including the deductible) only and wouldn’t have to wait to be reimbursed.
Visit Trupanion to Learn More.
One Deductible per Claim
Think about it. Often when a pet has issues, it’s an ongoing issue. Like Rodrigo’s arthritis. It would suck to pay a deductible in November and another one when we return to the veterinarian in January for the same injury. With Trupanion, the deductible covers the one issue for the life of the policy.
I am able to change my deductible to better suit my budget.
Originally, Trupanion allowed you to adjust your deductible online, however, now you must contact customer service to adjust the deducible. Either way, the process is fast and easy.
We're Not Penalized for Unlucky Pets
What if we have an accident-prone or sick pet? Many pet insurance companies will penalize us (or cancel our policy) for submitting too many claims. This isn’t Trupanion’s policy.
Trupanion won’t limit or deny our policy due to inherited issues, like hip dysplasia. You can work with customer service to choose the right plan to cover your dog's medical needs.
There’s a comfort in knowing that I won’t get a letter from my pet insurance company letting me know that our dog is no longer covered for an illness.
Other insurance companies don’t cover genetic issues; which is most likely to occur in our dogs' lives. If you have a Labrador Retriever, don’t you want coverage for issues that are common with Labs? Trupanion covers inherited conditions as long as they aren't shown to be present before the start of full policy coverage.
Visit Trupanion to Learn More.
No Fee Schedules
I saw that many pet insurance companies have a fee schedule that tells me that for ____ injury, they’ll pay ___%. We don’t have to muddle through this at Trupanion. I like that their policy is up front and clear and if I have any questions, there is a group of people available to help.
When you do your own research for pet insurance, keep Trupanion in mind. I’m beyond happy with their customer service, the quality of the policy, and I find comfort knowing that our dogs are covered. Trupanion understands and respects the bond we have with our dogs and their goal is to protect that bond by helping us solve a problem – the cost of veterinarian care.
Our Experience with Trupanion
A few years ago, we put Trupanion to the test. Scout developed a fever out of nowhere and no one could determine the cause. A trip to the emergency vet and repeated veterinarian visits, including a specialist, ran up our tab quickly.
I called Trupanion and they were amazing. They took away my concern over money so that I could focus on healing my dog.
In our experience, we had paid the veterinarians at the time of each appointment and I submitted the invoices to Trupanion for reimbursement, which they processed immediately.
Learn more at Trupanion.com.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Gwen
It makes me feel much better about my investment hearing the experience of another animal lover. We haven’t had any claims so I don’t know how the process and reimbursement works. I can’t tell you how much your comment eases my mind. The last thing I want is the hassle of fighting with an insurance company during a health crisis with one of our dogs.
No insurance is ever going to pay for pre-existing health issues. This isn’t Obama Care this is a standard insurance policy. They told me upfront because I was upfront they would never pay for my cats pre-existing urinary tract issue. They have paid and paid quite generously for my corgis Cancer costs. No questions asked. And their customer service is amazing. They pay back within 2 weeks of receiving invoice often much faster. I love them. I used to have VPI a worthless Pet insurance company. Their customer service was horrid their turnaround to reimburse took 6 weeks often. I am more than pleased with them. If one is not upfront with health issues that may have been previous of course you will be denied. That does not take rocket science to figure out. How much does any insurance cost or Pay of a human has a DWI offense? Insurance is insurance. I can’t say more good things about TruPanion. TY Trupanion for helping me save my babies.
Good evening, Adam
No, I wrote this post, because I wanted to share my experience. I spent a lot of time researching several pet insurance companies and decided that Trupanion was the best for me. I would never lie to my readers or manipulate them to get them to pay for something that I didn’t fully stand behind. I’m not that type of person, but since you don’t know me, you can’t know that.
I’m sorry that you’re having trouble with Trupanion. I know many people who are covered by Trupanion and everyone has had a steller experience. Since I don’t work for the company, I can’t help you resolve our issue, but I wish you the best and hope that you and your veterinarians can work things out with them.
Kimberly
Kim, did trupanion pay you to write this!?
Long story short, I have made my first claim only to get denied because they think that a pre existing condition caused the problem. This assumption was based on loosely standardized diagnoses practices. When I told my multiple board certified vets involved with this case they were perplexed. Essentially, this company works exactly how all insurance companies work. If they can find anything that may get them out of paying for it, they will. Now unfortunately I need to have people that actually know what they are talking about put them to shame.
I can’t wait to read about it! We haven’t had to make a claim yet. I’ve heard some really great things. I heard one horror story, but when I heard the full story the cat had a pre-existing condition and the owner was angry that Trupanion wouldn’t cover it.
We chose Trupanion too. Will be making our first claim soon, so we shall see how they step up.
My worry are the huge costs that I couldn’t save enough, which is why I purchased pet insurance in the first place. But after reading what you said, I pulled out the calculator and did some math – I would save $21,000 over the life of our dogs. This is something I’ll have to think about. Thanks, Barbara
While I believe pet insurance may be a great thing for some, from a strictly financial standpoint, if you religiously take the premium cost and put it away into a savings account for your pet you will most likely be ahead of the game by the time your pet reaches old age.
So sorry about your experience, Nope (I’m assuming this isn’t your real name). That sucks, especially considering how expensive both vet care and pet insurance can be; if I’m paying into a plan and they decline a cost, I’m going to think back to all that I’ve paid in and wonder if I should have socked it into savings instead.
My experience has been great so far; I didn’t write this because I was paid to or because I’m a patsy – one person’s negative experience (in my opinio) doesn’t make everyone else a liar. I do appreciate the alternative point of view, because it’s important that people get the pros and the cons of any company they choose to deal with.
I hope you were (or are) able to get this worked out with Trupanion and I hope your cat is comfortable today.
Kimberly
Blech. I can see a patsy wrote this.
Don’t be fooled. This company is garbage inside and out. Somehow they’ve hidden all their negative reviews on Yelp. And if one does magically squeak by “the filter,” the creepy agents track you down to your record.
They’re not in the business for you’re your pet. Because my cat was a vomiter all his life, 2 years after signing up with these crooks – they told me they would not cover his cancer … Because apparently some washed up failure at life pet insurance agent knows MORE about veterinarian medicine than our regular vet, internalist, and oncologist. The agent denied our claim because they call vomiting… in a cat… “a pre-existing condition.” Said it was a symptom of his cancer. Yea, that’s right … A cat who vomits has had untreated cancer for 2 years and the doctors who treat him don’t know what they’re saying or doing. Can’t wait to report them to my Attorney General.
I think people who flip hamburgers for a living serve more of a purpose than these stains.
No, it doesn’t that is what’s so cool about Trupanion. “You will always pay the premium for the age your pet was at enrollment – not for the current age of your pet. For example, if you enroll your pet at two years old, your premium will always be based on a two-year-old pet for the life of your policy. So if you enrolled your dog as a puppy, you will still pay the puppy price even when your dog is 5, 10, 14, 16, or older.”
Rodrigo and Sydney were enrolled at 2.5 and Blue was enrolled as a puppy. 🙂
I have a question, will the premium keep increasing as the dog gets older?
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s always nice to have someone confirm that I made the right choice with Trupanion. I believe they only pay directly with certain vets – it’s an arrangement that’s made between the vet and Trupanion. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to share.
Kimberly
I have Trupanion. I did a lot of research but still wasn’t sure I was making the right choice with them. However, when I had a costly episode with Gretel earlier this year they paid promptly and sent me a letter thanking me for taking such good care of Gretel. I did have to pay up front though but maybe it was because it was an emergency clinic.
Definitely see what they can do for you. I’ve been really impressed with their customer service. Thanks for writing from France! I love that we can meet people all over the world!
Kimberly
Thanks for sharing. I’m in France and don’t have pet insurance. Costs here are much cheaper than in the US, but when/if I move to the US, I’ll have to get insurance. It sucks that no coverage here will transfer to the US, though. Anything my dog has here will be preexisting when I sign up with a US-based company. But when that time comes, I’ll def give Trupanion a look…