Overview
Year Company Started: 1999
Underwriter: American Pet Insurance Company (APIC)
Website: Trupanion pet insurance
Phone: 1-800-930-1019
Trupanion is a pet insurance company that was founded in Canada in 1999 under the name Vetinsurance. For 10 years, Vetinsurance has been receiving the highest customer reviews in Canada, and they have also earned the industry’s highest retention rates. Today, Trupanion continues to offer the same high quality experience and service.
With Trupanion, you can get lifetime coverage for your dog or cat without having to be concerned about your premiums increasing because of your pet getting older or as a result of filing claims. Trupanion guarantees that policyholders will “never be penalized for the number of claims submitted” or for the increasing age of the covered pet.
The lifetime cap for Trupanion is set at $20,000. The lifetime cap may increase to reflect an increase in medical costs in your area. This coverage pays for diagnostic tests, medications, and surgeries that are recommended by your veterinarian.
Through Trupanion, you do not pay a deductible for veterinary medical costs. Instead, you are required to pay the veterinarian’s examination fee. In the end, Trupanion will pay for 90% of all approved claims.
Keep in mind that with this pet insurance policy, pre-existing conditions are not covered. According to Trupanion, neutering/spaying and hip-dysplasia are also not covered. Accident coverage begins five days after you start coverage, while illness coverage will not begin for thirty days.
Trupanion Pet Insurance Review (formerly Vetinsurance)
Rating: 8
Our review process starts with calling each of the insurance providers over the telephone and then, we gather quotes for these three pet profiles located in Vancouver, BC:
- 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
The Plans/Quotes
You can choose your deductible—anywhere between $0 and $1,000—to fit your premiums within your budget. Each pet gets $20,000 over his lifetime for accidents and illnesses with no limits per year, claim, illness, procedure, or condition. Trupanion reimburses 90% of every approved claim.
Monthly premiums for each pet:
The 2-year old male Yorkshire Terrier: $40.13 with a $500 deductible, $49.50 with a $250 deductible
A 6-year old male Cocker Spaniel: $51.45 with a $500 deductible, $64.23 with a $250 deductible
An 8-year old female mixed breed cat: $36.02 with a $500 deductible, $45.06 with a $250 deductible
*note: Quote total does not include applicable taxes, one-time $35 administration fee, or optional charity donation.
The Details
Your pet is covered for all hereditary and breed related conditions except for hip dysplasia which is not covered. Once you submit a claim, you can expect an approval or denial within 7 days—and as soon as 24 hours if it’s a repeat claim. Your rates will never increase due to increased claim activity, and premiums won’t increase due to aging. There is a 5-day waiting period for accidents, and a 30-day waiting period for illnesses.
Trupanion will only deny coverage for hereditary and congenital disorders if symptoms were present before you enrolled your pet, or during the waiting period.
You have the choice of going to any licensed veterinarian in Canada. You can also use your coverage while visiting in the United States. The insurer follows an indemnity insurance model. With this model, you pay the veterinarian up front, submit your claim to Trupanion, and then you will be reimbursed later.
No routine visits are covered for your pet at any age because these checkups are considered to be routine or preventative. Sickness and medication will continue to be covered even when your pet grows older.
Coverage
If your pet becomes sick or is injured, you are covered for:
- Hereditary disorders
- Congenital disorders
- Diagnostic tests
- Surgeries
- Medications
- Chronic or recurring conditions
What is not covered?
- Routine care
- Veterinary exam fees
- Pre-existing conditions
Important Exclusions:
- Pre-existing conditions
- Hip dysplasia – optional coverage for dogs and cats enrolled before 1st birthday
You can cancel your policy at any time without any penalty.
Conclusions
There is one plan that covers all accidents and illnesses without the disadvantage of a deductible. The only requirement is that you pay the veterinarian for the examination fees.
Trupanion will then pay 90% of the approved claim, leaving you with the final 10%. Your premium may be lowered by choosing a per condition deductible amount that works for you. If you do not spay or neuter your pet or do not maintain routine preventive care, the amount of coverage you receive will be quite restricted.
In making my choice, I will consider the following pros and cons:
Pros:
- You only have one limit: $20,000 over your pet’s lifetime.
- The deductibles and premiums are highly flexible, meaning you can fit the plan within your budget.
- There is no benefits schedule.
- Premiums will not increase due to aging.
- You may get coverage for hereditary and congenital conditions if symptoms occurred after your plan took effect.
- Customer reviews indicate excellent customer service.
Cons:
- Routine coverage is not included.
- Cover pets that are not spayed or neutered. However the coverage is limited in that pets who are not spayed or neutered will not be covered for illnesses relating to spay/neuter such as ovarian cancer, mammary cancer, etc.
- Hip dysplasia is not covered unless your dog is under one year at the time of enrollment.
- Monthly premium is slightly more expensive than others.
Be prepared for HUGE rate increases! Although we were satisfied with Trupanion (affiliated with PETCO) for our two puppies the first year of our policy (we filed a few claims which were paid promptly), the company just notified us that our premium would be increasing in June, 2011 from $33.75 per dog, to $67.50 per dog – a 100% increase! They claimed the rate hike was needed based on our “zip code” and tried to steer us to a plan with a high deductible for around the same cost we had been paying for our 0 deductible plan. Needless to say, I was so shocked I cancelled the insurance right away.
I just got a premium notice that my premium went up from $41 to $66 month. My dog is 1 year old. I had a claim for $130 paid. They told me on chat that they have not raised premiums since starting in 2008. They should raise rates of 3-4 year policy holders now, and gradually raise rates as you are with them. They lie when they told me today they don’t raise rates based on age of pet or claims. I don’t thing vet bills have gone up 62% since 2008. Don’t get scammed by Trupanion. You will be sorry after 1st year.
I have two dogs with coverage which began in June of 2010. I had a two claims for one puppy that they paid promptly.
However, on May 5, I received notice of a 99.7% premium increase (from $41.07 to $82.00 per dog per month) to take effect in July.
I went to yelp and it turns out, I am lucky. One person had a 379% increase.
I went to a website that provides multiple quotes. One of the companies was Trupanion. They are offering me coverage for $37.73 (the current for a one year dog hip dysplasia coverage). It galls me that they would offer new people better coverage than me.
please revise to read “the current amount for a one year old dog without hip dysplasia”
I also just got a rate increase from Trupanion, my dog is 14 months old we have paid 12 monthly premiums at $50 and they want to raise it to $73 a month a 45% increase what the hell. We haven’t had a claim on this policy there is no question this company is a scam they have received the last cent from me!!!!
We also got hit for a 2 year old Australian Shepherd. We have had the policy for a year with no claims and our policy has gone from $37 to $74 with Trupanion. This was a no deductible plan. I thought this company was the best, but I am now shopping again!
The hell of it is, by the time one opts out ie. “there is no question this company is a scam they have received the last cent from me!!!!” The company has already benefitted to the tune of all the premium costs we have trustingly paid in. The NEXT sucker can take our place: the customer cannot win.
They have our money, we have their broken promises.And our pets may now, by the time we wake up, have “pre-existing conditions.”
I agree with everyone above, we got Trupanion about 2 months after receiving our puppy (around September 2009). We have not made a single claim and received the same notice that our monthly premium is going up from around $50 to almost $80!! We will also be promptly cancelling this rip off insurance and will be shopping around for a different carrier! I can’t believe they think that their customers will be okay with almost doubling their rates without any new benefits, you can get the same coverage PLUS yearly dental care and alternative treatments for the same amount with PetSecure, we will most likely be switching to them after a very lengthy complaint letter! Maybe if we all band together and let them know we refuse to be robbed like this they will have to change their operating procedures. What a bunch of jerks!
I’ve been with trupanion about a year, and just received notice of a 62% rate increase. I worked hard to pick the best, most trustworthy carrier… Or so I thought. Now google turns up many in the same boat. Crooks! I will spread the word tirelessly to all who are shopping for pet insurance. That is absurd.
We are in the process of bringing premiums up-to-date and some of the greater changes you have seen were most likely from California in which premiums had not been updated in nearly 4 years. It took time to build up significant claims evidence to justify the new rates and have them approved by the state’s department of insurance.
The premiums you see today and on the website are much more up-to-date and any future changes to premiums are predicted to be much less surprising.
Because we offer such liberal coverage of 90% of actual costs with no payout limits, we must adjust premiums to the average cost of a pet like yours based on factors of age at enrollment, breed, chosen deductible, and geographical location.
The insurance industry is highly regulated and I promise that we’re not out to scam you or jack up prices for our own profit. We are just keeping up with the average pet costs based on our claims experiences and unfortunately, the delay caused a greater change to premiums. I do apologize for your frustration.
Stacy, I thought you only increased rates based on Veterinary cost increases. So in 4 years, vet costs in California have gone up over 100 – 200%? Wow, looks like Trupanion just had low prices in the beginning to lure people in, then when they had enough policy holders, to start raising the rates.
Lets do the math. I believe you have around 70,000 policy holders. So if you raise the rates by only $1.00 per month, that is a $70K monthly bonus. Wow, looks like your average increase is around $10 to $20. Very funny. I bet you are a company that is going to try to go public in a couple of years, so right now you are tying to look as profitable as possible.
Well for those of us who did receive the rate increases, we will let the world now how we have been treated. $36.76 increased to $74.98.
TRUPANION is a SCAM!!!! An Insurance SCAM!
I had a bad experience with Trupanion. We signed up with our Rescue dog since we had a month free trial and kept it. However, I submited two claims in the following months and an ear infection was denied (saying it was common for puppies to get), and another only paid $65 out of a $450 visit from a reaction to a vaccination. The office visit wasnt covered, medicine to make the pup better wasn’t covered either. Therefore, the amount I paid each month wasn’t justified for the little amount I received in reimbursement. Furthermore when I did get that mesley $65 back it took two months and I had to keep calling, emailing, and following up. I would rather save the $40 per month to have if my dog gets sick instead of throwing money out the window for a service that can’t be used.
Wanted to say that my family has had a WONDERFUL experience with Trupanion. We have two Bombay cats, a three year old female, and a two year old male. Our rate is 40$ a month for both animals, with a small deductible. About a ten months ago, our female cat developed symptoms of being FLUTD. We saw our vet multiple times, and they ran the same tests, or variations of tests multiple times, and finally sent us to a Feline specialist for exploratory surgery. She was found to have a very rare in females soft-tissue bladder blockage. Reputation paid out a little over $4000 total of our $4800 in vet bills, and they paid each claim within 10 business days. The employees I spoke with at Trupanion were wonderful, supportive and caring the whole way. I was very impressed with them, and how they operated. I only wish that human medical insurance companies were as wonderful as Reputation. AND my rates have NOT went up. Our case worker at Reputation even called for months afterword to follow-up our our cats’ condition.
THANK YOU Trupanion! My animal would not be with us without you!