I looked into this and still can't decide. I am leaning towards EMBRACE. I narrowed it down to EMBRACE and VPI. After I narrowed down my priorities (monthly cost, amount of coverage, holistic coverage, hereditary, wellness and cancer coverage) I came up with those two.
I am also trying to decide on Insurance for my old boy (12 1/2 years old) He's been healthy and thought coverage for old age might be good. Pet Plan will cover him, and he could get coverage for Acupuncture and Chiropractic care, but who knows how picky they will be with pre existing conditions. Monthly cost, depending on deductible, would be $45 -$62 a month.
I had VPI before, they pay everything off a coded chart, and sometimes don't even get that right, you have to appeal it to get the right diagnosis paid. I currently have PetPlan USA and they are great. They pay quick, will give you pre-authorizations for surgeries, etc.
I have Trupanion and absolutely think they are the best. I had VPI before which was a true p.i.t.a.
Trupanion has hip dysplasia coverage as well as adding breeder's coverage.
When my chocolate bitch at 12 weeks decided she would eat a box of dinovite wrappers and all and vomit half of it back up over the next twelve hours; they came through and picked up the hospital bill less my deductible. They pay quickly and are easier to understand than human health insurance. Then my yellow had the hot spot from hell and they were great about covering the treatments and prescriptions.
Yes, Trupanion is great !!!! I've had some of my families sign their pups on it, used it and was happy with the company. VPI on the other hand doesn't get good reviews from what I hear from my pet families who tried it.
What was your experience with premiums at renewal time? I had insurance on my dogs up here and the first year was great, premiums were do-able but they failed to mention that your subsequent years' premiums are based on your claims experience .. my first dog had a lot of skin issues and when we had his PennHip done, he came back in the 30th percentile. While they did pay for the xrays as they were - given his bad rating - deemed diagnostic, my rates at renewal on him more than doubled. Had his xrays come back ok, they would not have been paid for as not deemed medically necessary.
I was paying more for him than I was for my own benefits top up ... the company I was with lead you to believe premiums were fixed based on the plan you chose when in reality this was not the case. Nor did they cover routine medical care.
I sat down and did the math and it was cheaper for me to put that money in an account for vet emergencies than to carry the insurance. Especially if your dogs are very healthy for the most part ....
