Does pet insurance cover preventive care?

May 12, 2017

In the case of at least two major pet health insurance carriers, the answer is yup. Here are details for your veterinary team when you pitch wellness and veterinary clients ask if theyre covered.

Photo: Shutterstock.comEditor's note: Not sold on these pet insurance examples? There's more here!

Pet insurance companies offer preventive care coverage, but what exactly does that entail? Your veterinary clients may be just as clueless. To help, we tracked down some of the top pet insurance companies and grabbed the details of their preventive care perks. While companies like Petplan and Trupanion don't offer preventive care coverage yet, companies like Nationwide and ASPCA Pet Health certainly do. Here are the basics of their plans:

Nationwide pet insurance

Nationwide is the only pet insurer in the United States that offers injury, illness and wellness/preventive care in a single plan: Whole Pet with Wellness. With this plan, all preventive and wellness care (spay/neuter, vaccinations, dental cleanings, flea-tick control, heartworm medication, etc.) is covered, and members are reimbursed 90 percent of eligible veterinary expenses (more here).

Nationwide also offers standalone wellness plans (Wellness Plus and Wellness Basic, respectively) for those who don't want the full wellness package. These two cover:

> Physical exams

> Behavioral exams and treatments

> Vaccination or titer

> Heartworm or FeLV/FIV test

> Fecal test

> Deworming

> Nail trim

> Microchip

> Flea control or heartworm prevention

> One additional test per policy term (health screen/blood work, radiograph or ECG)

ASPCA Pet Health Insurance

With ASPCA Pet Health Insurance, there are three add-on preventive-care options for pet owners to choose from available with the Complete Coverage plan (more here). Here's what each additional option covers:

• Basic

> Dental cleaning or spay/neuter

> Wellness exam

> Deworming

> DHLPP/FVRCP vaccination

> Rabies, Lyme or FIP vaccination

> Fecal test

> Heartworm/FeLV test

• Standard

> Everything from Basic, plus a health certificate

• Prime

> Everything from Standard, plus flea/heartworm prevention, a Bordetella/FeLV test, blood work and a urinalysis

Embrace Pet Insurance

Everyday veterinary costs are covered through Embrace's Wellness Rewards for Routine Care plan. Wellness Rewards is a routine care plan that reimburses pet owners for their pet's everyday veterinary, grooming and training costs, with no per-item limits. It's an optional plan that pet owners can purchase in addition to their insurance policy they have with Embrace. Here's some of what's covered (more here):

> Wellness exams

> Vaccinations and titers

> Flea, tick and heartworm preventives

> Spay/neuter surgery

> Fecal exams

> Routine blood tests

> Microchipping

> Behavioral training

> Teeth cleaning and dental illness

> Alternative modalities like chiropractic care, reiki, massage therapy and acupuncture

> Veterinarian-recommended diet food purchased at your clinic

> Grooming

> Cremation and burial