Overview
Year Company Started: 2005
Underwriter: Aetna Insurance Company of Connecticut
AM Best Financial Strength Rating: A (excellent)
Website: www.petsbest.com
Phone: 1877-738-7237
Jack Stevens DVM, the original founder of Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI) founded Pets Best Insurance in 2005. The company is a member of NAPHIA, the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. Pets Best covers cats and dogs over seven weeks old for illnesses, accidents, injuries, surgeries, prescription medication, hospitalization, and more.
Pets Best does not cover pre-existing conditions, congenital conditions, parasites, preventable diseases (if you failed to get a vaccine), elective procedures (like ear cropping), and dental coverage. However, if you add “BestWellness” to your plan, your pet’s covered for routine visits, annual teeth cleanings, vaccinations, and more.
There are no annual limits or age restrictions, and you can choose any vet, anywhere. Pets Best reimburses you 80 percent after your deductible—there is no benefits schedule.
Once you purchase a Pets Best policy, accident coverage kicks in after 3 days, and medical and wellness coverage after 14 days. You can either email, mail or fax your claim form and direct deposit reimbursement is available at no extra cost. Pets Best Insurance will reimburse you within 10 business days.
within 10 business days.
Pets Best Pet Insurance Review
Rating: 9
Our review process starts with calling each of the insurance providers over the telephone and then, we gather quotes for these three pet profiles:
- A 2-year old male Yorkshire Terrier named Jax
- A 6-year old male Cocker Spaniel named Max
- An 8-year old female mixed breed cat named Fluffy
I was prompted to click 2 for the sales department—different from other companies that directed me to customer service. Once I began speaking with Ryan, I could see the clear difference. He did a fantastic job selling me on the company. In fact, Pets Best Insurance is now one of my top choices.
To obtain the quotes, he asked if the pets are spayed and neutered, and if they have any pre-existing conditions. He explained that Pets Best is one of only two pet insurers that reimburse 80% of the actual bill.
They don’t use a benefits schedule or usual and customary fees list. Other companies do this to limit the amount of money you can get for any specific illness or condition. Pets Best Insurance reimburses 80% of the whole bill, after the deductible, no matter what.
The Plans/Quotes
I will get a 7% discount for enrolling multiple pets or choosing to pay annually.
Ryan recommended starting with the Pets Basic Plan, and then upgrading later if I see fit.
All plans cover:
- Accidents, illnesses, and injuries
- MRIs, CAT scans, and X-rays
- Surgeries
- Cancer treatments
- Prescription medications
- After-hours emergency vet visits
- Visits to specialists
- Acupuncture
- Chiropractic therapy
- Hospitalization
Pets Basic
$100 per-incident deductible, covers $2,500 per incident, has a $42,500 lifetime limit
For all three pets with a California zip code, would cost $73.42/month
- The 2-year old male Yorkshire Terrier: $22.46
- The 6-year old male Cocker Spaniel: $32.51
- The 8-year old female mixed breed cat: $18.45
Pets First
$100 per-incident deductible, covers $7,000 per incident, has a $100,000 lifetime limit
For all three pets with a California zip code, would be $132.98/month
- The 2-year old male Yorkshire Terrier: $40.69
- The 6-year old male Cocker Spaniel: $58.88
- The 8-year old female mixed breed cat: $33.41
Pets Premier
$250 per-incident deductible, covers $14,000 per incident, has a $100,000 lifetime limit
For all three pets with a California zip code, would be $173.34/month
- The 2-year old male Yorkshire Terrier: $53.35
- The 6-year old male Cocker Spaniel: $77.21
- The 8-year old female mixed breed cat: $42.78
The Details
None of the plans include routine care. You can add the wellness program at any time, and also remove it whenever you’d like. This allows you a certain amount of coverage for specific treatments each year—$50 for annual exams and $100 for teeth cleaning, for example—for a total of $480 in dogs and $545 in cats. The website indicates you can only use half of the wellness benefits in the first six months of the year, and then you can use the rest in the remainder, which I find a tad odd. According to Ryan, it would cost me an additional $22 per month per pet to add wellness care.
None of the plans have an annual limit. Perhaps most importantly, Pets Best offers continuous lifetime coverage. Many insurance companies consider conditions from on policy term pre-existing when the plan renews the next year, which seriously limits your coverage. Some of them allow you to purchase an additional package to address this, increasing your premium cost.
The waiting period is 3 days for accidents and 14 days for full coverage. There are no start-up fees. You can cancel at any time, and you will receive a pro-rated reimbursement for overpayments.
Pets Best Insurance is very similar to Petplan—another popular, well-reviewed pet insurance company. The only difference is that Petplan drops coverage to 70% when you visit a specialist.
Conclusions
Pets Best seems true to its name—one of the best pet insurance companies on the market.
In making my decision, I will consider the following:
Pros:
- No benefits schedule—you get 80% reimbursement, after the deductible, no matter what
- Lifetime continuous coverage
- Multi-pet annual discount
- Flexible, comprehensive plans
- The founder had 25 years industry experience before forming the company
- Pets Best is a member of NAPHIA, North American Pet Health Insurance Association
Cons:
- You can only use half your routine care allowances in the first six months of a year
- Some customer reviews indicate claim processing can be slow
To purchase a Pets Best policy, visit them online or call 1-866-929-3807. Ryan’s extension is 308—and he is well worth speaking to!
Pet insurance is expensive…having a dog is expensive…
yes, pets are expensive to have but they are priceless!
This is the third time I have reviewed this company. I am excited to say that I have been pleased with their service and plans. I feel PetsBest is making every effort to listen to what their customer are saying and improve the quality of their products and service. I gave it a 10 as well!
This seems okaay the quote i got was a inbetween price if like 21 dollars monthly and thats good for a american pitbull terrier thats 3 months old. Once i did the quote they emailed me with all information on there coverage and the cost of vets ect great information source i think my fiance will b paying for this insurance company for our dog name swisha
My dog takes seizure and thyroid medicine. Bills were certainly adding up. My dog was 2 years old when insured. She is now 5. Pets Best does not pay for everything I would like it to pay, but I am pleased with these claims over and above.
If I could rate this company zero, I would. This company is a bunch of scam artists.
Before I got this insurance I called around many places to make sure that my pet’s history wasn’t going to be a factor in his future coverages. My cat had UTI before but I know that some companies will still cover this in the future if he has been UTI free for over 6 months as UTI could be a recurring illness (bacterial infection). Petsbest was very nice when I called and said that most likely it will be covered but it depends on the underwriter.
Two years after I joined my cat had a urinary blockage due to a stone. This is not UTI as I’ve asked my Vet. She replied that there is no bacterial infection (per my cat’s urine culture). Stones are formed by diet and such. My claim was completely denied. They told me that my pet’s condition happened before he joined pets best. He has never had a stone in his life prior to this.
To put things into consideration they said that I was claiming for heart murmur which was on the bill but made up .06% of the bill. When he was as kitten there was some heart murmur but the vet ruled it out that later and there was none. Before he had his surgery for the stone, the vet did a check to make sure his heart was fine (which it was). That was part of the whole bill yet the whole claim was denied because of the heart murmur.
I’m sorry if this is very rushed and unclear as my pet recently passed and I can’t think straight. But my advice to others…please beware of the company. I’ve been a customer for my whole pet’s life (minus the first 6 months as a kitten) and the one time I put in a claim they find every reason to deny it.
I called to ask why my claim was denied and the woman who went from very sweet voice to very nasty voice really quick. When I didn’t pursue further she went back to her sweet voice. This company has FAKE written all over it.
I will appeal and hopefully they will manage to do the right thing and cover the expense.