You care for your pet. It’s a member of the family in much the same way as your own children. You make smart decisions where food is concerned. You make sure your pet gets plenty of exercise and mental stimulation. You also take them to the vet regularly for checkups and vaccines. Of course, affording medical care for your pet has become increasingly difficult.
You have options today that promise to help reduce the costs of that care. Pet insurance plans are available, but so are pet wellness plans. How do these seemingly similar products differ? What do they do? Is a wellness plan the same as insurance? Is one a better fit for your needs?
Pet Wellness Plans vs. Pet Insurance: Understanding the Major Differences
While wellness plans may sound a lot like insurance, they’re not the same thing, nor do they cover the same pet healthcare items. However, both insurance plans and wellness plans vary depending on the provider, so it’s only possible to discuss them in general terms here.
What Is a Pet Wellness Plan?
A pet wellness plan is really a savings plan that helps make regular care more affordable. Some of the covered items found with many of these plans include the following:
- Grooming
- Vaccinations
- Spaying/Neutering
- Wellness exams
- Dental care
- Microchipping
These are all standard care items that are usually excluded from pet insurance plans.
What Is Pet Insurance?
Pet insurance is like human health insurance in some ways but is closer to car insurance in how it works. This type of coverage protects your pet in the case of accidents and emergencies, but will not cover regular care, preventative care, or predictable care items. Some of the things pet insurance will usually cover include:
- Emergency surgery
- Prescription medications
- Accident treatment
- Poisoning/foreign object ingestion
Pet insurance plans exist to help make unpredictable emergency care costs more manageable.
Pet Wellness Plans vs. Pet Insurance: How Do They Stack Up to One Another?
Comparing pet wellness plans and pet insurance is difficult, as they are very different products. However, we can draw some broad conclusions through a rough comparison.
Pet wellness plans are designed to help you make preventative care more affordable by spreading the cost out over time and giving you money back based on a set benefit schedule. For instance, in a wellness plan with a maximum payout of $400 per year, you might be reimbursed $45 per physical exam, $15 per fecal test, $20 per nail trim, or $40 for microchipping. Other wellness plans do not have a maximum amount per treatment, but rather a total reimbursement amount for the policy period. Note that these are reimbursements, not actual costs. You must pay the full cost of the treatment upfront and the wellness plan provider will then reimburse you.
Each wellness plan is unique in terms of what procedures are covered, how much you’re reimbursed and the maximum payout limit of the plan. They also differ based on what organization offers the plan. Some insurance companies offer both insurance coverage and wellness plans, while you will also find wellness plans offered by veterinary clinics and animal hospitals.
With pet insurance plans, the situation is different. It’s a mistake to think of these plans as being like human health insurance. They do not work the same way. With pet health insurance, you get coverage for emergencies, major and minor illnesses, prescription medication, and other non-predictable issues that your pet may face.
Like other forms of insurance, you pay a monthly premium and will have a deductible that must be met before the insurance will kick in. The amount of the deductible has a direct impact on the amount of your monthly premium, as well. Unlike pet wellness plans, pet insurance plans do not cover regular, preventative care. They are designed to help make dealing with accidents and illnesses less expensive – care for recovery after a car hits your dog, or treatment for cancer after your cat is diagnosed, for instance.
Pet Wellness Plans vs. Pet Insurance: Which Is Right for Your Pet’s Care?
As a pet owner, you want to ensure that your pet receives the best possible care. So, is it better to go with a pet wellness plan or buy pet insurance? Most pet owners would likely benefit from both types of policies. Rather than being an either-or situation, both types of protection can help make pet medical care more affordable over time.
However, there are situations where carrying both types of policies is inadvisable. This is particularly true when it comes to pet wellness plans. While these can be valuable tools that reimburse you money over time, you may actually end up spending more money in the long run. How do you tell if a plan is right for you?
- Will you truly make use of all the provided services?
- For some pet owners, the answer here is no. For instance, while you will certainly make use of the included physical exams, chances are good you will not use the behavioral exams included.
- The same goes for deworming – if you’re keeping up with regular veterinary care, worms are not really a concern. Spay/neuter service is another example here. Your pet will only ever need to be spayed or neutered once, and may have already had the procedure before you got them.
- Also, most vets and animal hospitals offer price breaks on spaying and neutering, or you can take advantage of spay/neuter programs within your community designed to combat unwanted pet population growth. Microchipping is another issue – you’ll only microchip your pet once, but you will pay for it every year with some wellness plans.
- Does your pet insurance plan include any wellness care procedures?
- While many pet insurance policies exclude preventative care procedures, that is not the case with all of them.
- Some insurance companies also allow you to add specific types of preventative care to your policy. Doing so could help you reduce your annual pet health-related expenditures while ensuring that you have as many bases covered as possible in terms of health protection for your pet.
Pet Wellness Plans vs. Pet Insurance: The Coverage You Cannot Sacrifice
As discussed above, pet wellness plans can sometimes be more expensive than paying for the needed treatments out of pocket. You’ll also find that some insurers offer optional wellness treatment coverage. What that means is a separate pet wellness policy may be superfluous. However, you cannot forgo pet insurance.
According to The New York Times, the average pet owner in the US spends somewhere between $9,000 and $13,000 out of pocket for pet-related medical care over the course of a pet’s life. A significant percentage of that amount stems not from routine preventative care, but treatment for illnesses like cancer, or care related to an accident, such as a pet being hit by a car.
In the end, pet wellness plans can be optional depending on your situation. Pet insurance is not. Finding the right insurer and the right insurance plan can help you save a significant amount of money over your pet’s lifetime while still ensuring they have access to the quality care they need.
However, it is essential that you make an informed decision here. Compare insurance plans. Research exclusions with each plan. Determine the deductible amount that best suits your budget while ensuring affordable monthly premiums.
Are there restrictions placed on which vets you can use? Is there an enrollment fee or an annual fee charged for membership? Is the deductible annual or is it assessed per incident?
Above all, make sure the insurance company you choose is reputable and does not have a history of arbitrarily denying claims.
