Puppy Wellness Plans: Budgeting Routine Care (2020 Review)
When you have a new puppy, you have to prepare for her medical costs. Puppy care is expensive anyway, when you include training supplies, chew toys, grooming supplies, licenses, food, and everything else that goes into puppy care.
But, when it comes to medical costs for a puppy, your budget may take a beating if you don’t plan for them wisely. Unfortunately, puppy health insurance may not include wellness coverage for routine and preventive care. Therefore, you’ll still have to pay out-of-pocket for things like vet exams, vaccinations, and spaying or neutering.
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Although puppy insurance is still extremely important to make the costs of accidents and illnesses affordable, a wellness plan is something you should also consider for your puppy. For a low monthly fee, a wellness plan will help you budget your puppy’s veterinary costs.
Top Rated Wellness Plans For Pets
Name | Type of Policy Coverage | Rating |
|---|---|---|
several annual deductible and reimbursement levels and optional wellness coverage | ||
three additional wellness plan coverage options | ||
personalized policies and optional wellness coverage | ||
several plan options and additional coverages, including wellness | ||
cooperative pet health plan |
Puppy Wellness Plans: How Different Are They From Insurance?
Dog owners tend to confuse a wellness plan with puppy insurance, and with good reason. They both help dog owners better afford medical care by allowing them to pay monthly or annually for coverage. However, they provide very different forms of coverage.
Puppy insurance usually covers high-cost medical care that can set you back thousands for one condition. Most policies cover accidents, illnesses, chronic conditions, surgeries, and emergency room care, for example. Basically, unexpected health problems that arise with your puppy.
A wellness plan for your puppy, however, provides coverage that your insurance policy doesn’t. Consider it a blanket of extra coverage. Puppies require a lot of medical care during their first year of life, more so than most adult dogs do. So, a wellness plan can help you budget the costs by providing coverage for things like:
- Pest prevention (fleas, ticks, and heartworm)
- Vaccinations
- Dental exams and cleaning
- Spaying or neutering
- Diagnostic tests (stool, urine, and blood)
- Annual vet exams
With wellness plans, you’ll pay a monthly or annual fee for coverage. Unlike puppy insurance, you won’t have to worry about meeting a deductible before you get reimbursed. Instead, you’ll pay the cost of care when it happens and then file a claim with the insurance company. Your company will reimburse you a set amount, depending on the service.
Best Puppy Wellness Plans
Pets Best
To be eligible for a Pets Best wellness plan, you must have one of its regular insurance policies. However, Pets Best offers some of the best insurance prices, and having both types of coverage will give your puppy the absolute best comprehensive coverage.
You can choose between EssentialWellness and BestWellness plans, starting at $16 and $26 per month, respectively. Both plans provide coverage for the same services, except EssentialWellness doesn’t reimburse you for spaying or neutering or dental cleanings. Each plan provides different reimbursement levels for services.
On a Pets Best wellness plan, you’ll enjoy coverage for routine services, like deworming, wellness exams, vaccinations, and more.
PetFirst Insurance
Routine Wellness Add-ons by PetFirst can be added onto an existing insurance policy through the company. This coverage will include a variety of specific, regular medical expenses. Regarding ones that are beneficial for puppies in certain regions of the country more prone to certain health issues, you will need to check the policy.
Annual dental cleanings or spaying/neutering, pest prevention, annual routine testing, and more procedures are available in $125, $250, or $400 allowances.. Additionally, the company will allow you to discuss the most beneficial types of care needed for your pup, so you can get the exact coverage you need.
Embrace Pet Insurance
If you have a current insurance policy through Embrace Pet Insurance, you can add on the optional Wellness Rewards coverage for routine care. This wellness plan has three different reimbursement caps annually: $250, $450, and $650. Depending on the reimbursement you choose, your monthly cost can be as low as $18.
Your Wellness Rewards coverage will include vaccinations and titres, nail trimming, routine chiropractic care, prescription diet food, teeth cleaning and dental illnesses, routine blood tests, and more. Embrace provides reimbursement for several services that other wellness plans don’t include for your pup.
ASPCA Pet Health Insurance
In addition to ASPCA Pet Health Insurance providing accident and injury insurance for puppies, it has additional options for more coverage. If you have an ASPCA Pet Health Insurance policy, you can opt for Preventative Care coverage, which acts similar to a wellness plan.
Each service covered under the Preventative Care coverage will have a set maximum benefit allotment, no deductible required. Your coverage will include annual exams, microchip, spaying or neutering, dental cleaning, heartworm and flea prevention, and more. Your monthly cost will depend on the amount of coverage you choose for each service.
Cooperative Pet Health Plan by Eusoh
There is a new affordable way to reduce your vet bills, except for traditional insurance. Learn about the Eusoh community providing the clear pet health plan for every pet.
Conclusion: Wellness Plans For Pets
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Although a wellness plan won’t typically provide reimbursement for medical services that are high-cost, it is absolutely beneficial for your puppy. In his first year of life, a puppy will need several vet visits, vaccines, and more for optimal health. These seemingly low-cost services can add up quickly, though.
So, consider purchasing a wellness plan in addition to a comprehensive insurance policy for your pup. This will ensure that you have the most coverage possible to help you avoid the risk of not being able to afford your pup’s medical care. A wellness plan for your pup will allow you to budget his medical costs throughout the year so you have one less thing to worry about when taking care of him!
