Coverage and Rates to Protect Your Pet

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In 2019, the well-known insurance brand MetLife acquired a pet insurance company called PetFirst. This led to MetLife offering pet insurance products, which cover up to 100% of unexpected pet care costs.

MetLife has only recently gotten into pet insurance, but it’s well-known in other areas of insurance. Its website also states that it won the 2022 Pet Independent Innovation Award for pet insurance.

If you’re in the market for pet insurance and wondering how much coverage costs and which products MetLife offers, read on to learn more.

Pet Insurance Plans from MetLife Pet Insurance

MetLife offers several different pet insurance plans for dogs or cats, customizable based on your needs and budget. Also note that MetLife is one of the few providers providing family plans, which let you cover all the pets in a single home under a single policy.

Pet insurance plans through MetLife come with a few different deductibles ranging from $250 to $2,500. Unfortunately, MetLife doesn’t offer any plans with unlimited benefits. Instead, annual benefits are capped at $2,000, $5,000, or $10,000, depending on the coverage tier selected.

However, your coinsurance rate is just as crucial as your deductible. MetLife offers coinsurance rates of 80% to 100%, depending on the plan. So what does this mean for policyholders? If you opt for a plan that reimburses at 80% up to your annual coverage amount, MetLife will reimburse you for 80% of eligible costs between your deductible and policy limit.

Dog and cat insurance offered through MetLife is available for puppies and kittens through senior animals up to 11 years of age. Primary coverages offered through MetLife pet insurance include the following:

• Accidents and emergency care: If your dog or cat becomes injured in an accident and requires emergency care, your pet insurance plan can cover it. For example, this protection can pay for emergency hospitalization or surgery after a pet is hit by a car or injured by accidental ingestion.
• Alternative therapies and holistic care: Pet insurance can cover specific alternative therapies, including acupuncture, chiropractic care, hydrotherapy, and more.
• Cancer: MetLife pet insurance covers cancer treatments.
• Diagnostic tests: MetLife pet insurance covers diagnostic tests required to diagnose a pet.
• Exam fees: Fees for specific exams are also covered since preventative care helps you spot problems early to keep your pet in optimal health.
• Hereditary conditions: Some genetic disorders are also covered, provided it’s not a preexisting condition, including heart disease and hip dysplasia.
• Prescription pet food: If your pet is required to go on a special diet to recover from a health condition, your pet insurance plan may cover it.
• Surgeries and hospitalization: Surgeries and hospitalization are also covered, provided a veterinarian orders the care.
• Ultrasounds and X-rays: MetLife pet insurance also covers vet-ordered ultrasounds and X-rays.

MetLife gives customers a long list of covered services. However, its limits of $2,000 to $10,000 per year make it unlikely that MetLife will cover everything for a chronic illness or severe emergency. One surgery could easily cost upwards of $1,000-$5,000. As such, it’s not surprising that many experienced pet parents lean towards unlimited coverage plans.

What Is Not Covered by MetLife?

MetLife pet insurance plans do not cover most preexisting conditions. Other care that will not qualify for reimbursement includes:

• Conditions related to breeding
• Costs associated with grooming and bathing
• Elective pet care
• Expression of anal glands
• Injuries caused by racing, organized pet fighting, commercial guarding, and more
• Organ transplants
• Vitamins and supplements

Additional Coverage Options from MetLife

MetLife pet insurance covers nearly any unexpected pet care costs that might pop up to its low coverage limits. However, the company lets you add a preventative care plan that covers some of the routine wellness care you would otherwise have to pay for.

While adding this coverage to your plan results in a higher premium, having it means you will pay less for comprehensive pet care every year your policy is in force. Preventative care add-on coverage from MetLife pays for:

• Wellness exams
• Vaccinations
• Heartworm prevention medications

How Much Does Pet Insurance from MetLife Cost?

The cost of your pet’s insurance will vary depending on the type of animal you have, their age, the breed of your pet, coverage limits, and deductible.

That said, we got pet insurance quotes for several different animals from MetLife, and here’s an overview of the average rates MetLife quoted us.

Average Pet Insurance Costs for Dogs

Average Pet Insurance Costs for Cats

How Do I File Claims with MetLife Pet Insurance?

As we mentioned, you’ll pay your pet’s medical bills upfront and then ask for reimbursement from MetLife after the fact. With that in mind, you should know your deductible, annual coverage limit, and coinsurance.

Here’s an overview of how each part of a MetLife pet insurance policy works:

• The annual benefit limit is how much you can receive in reimbursement in a calendar year, and this falls between $2,000 and $10,000 with MetLife.
• The deductible is the amount you must pay before MetLife reimburses you for eligible pet care expenses.
• Coinsurance is the percentage of eligible charges MetLife is responsible for within a calendar year, and this can fall between 80% and 100%, depending on the policy details.

For example, let’s say you selected the most popular pet insurance plan from MetLife that comes with a $250 deductible, an annual benefit of $5,000, and 80% coinsurance. If your pet had to have emergency surgery that cost you $3,000, you would pay your pet bills upfront and apply for reimbursement.

You must satisfy your deductible before MetLife pays anything. Some insurance providers also apply the coinsurance to the deductible. For example, if your bill is $250, it would fulfill $200 of your deductible requirement.

Your total deductible would be $312.50. From there, you could be eligible for 80% reimbursement of the remaining $2,687.50, which would be a $2,510 reimbursement check if you have one of the higher coverage tiers.

Once you pay your veterinary bills, you can file a claim for reimbursement from MetLife through a few different means. For example, MetLife pet insurance has a mobile app that lets you file and keeps track of claims using your smartphone. You can file a claim with MetLife pet insurance by:

• Emailing your claim to pet_submit_claim@metlife.com
• Faxing in your claim to 877-281-3348
• Texting your claim info to 317-820-2275
• Mailing your claim to:
• MetLife Pet Insurance
  400 Missouri Ave.
  Jeffersonville, IN 47130

For your claim to be processed, you’ll need to supply MetLife with a completed claim form, veterinary medical records (SOAP Notes) from the incident or illness, and an itemized invoice showing all pet medical care charges to date.

What Preexisting Conditions Are Excluded with MetLife?

Generally speaking, MetLife pet insurance doesn’t cover incurable preexisting conditions. These conditions can include the following, per the insurer:

• Allergies
• Arthritis
• Bladder crystals
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Epilepsy
• Heart disease
• Hip dysplasia
• Kidney disease
• Orthopedic conditions
• Urinary blockages

MetLife’s website is vague about its preexisting conditions policy for pet insurance, suggesting policyholders check policy documents. It has become increasingly common for pet insurance companies to cover “curable” diseases after a 6-12 month waiting period. We could not confirm if this applies to MetLife pet insurance.

Compare MetLife Pet Insurance vs. Figo Pet Insurance

Figo is another pet insurance company offering customizable plans for dogs and cats. Figo insures pets of any age. It also lets you choose your veterinarian and offers unlimited coverage (meaning once you meet your deductible, you can get coverage for the rest of the year accounting for your coinsurance.

This no-limit approach is critical if your pet is involved in a severe accident or requires ongoing care for a significant illness. However, MetLife may fall short, even with a $10,000 limit, if pets require surgery, hospital stays, and medications.

Figo also offers live access to a veterinary specialist 24 hours a day and a personalized pet tag that syncs to the Pet Cloud account for your pet on its mobile app. Some plans from Figo also reimburse eligible pet care expenses at 100% up to your annual coverage limit, and deductibles can range from $500 to $1,500.

The more you’re willing to cover (via a higher deductible, lower coinsurance, and lower coverage limit), the lower your premium will be. However, every pet parent should consider what they can afford in a pet emergency before cutting corners on insurance. Despite what you might think, MetLife is not necessarily cheaper than Figo. But Figo offers a much more comprehensive suite of services and coverage than MetLife.

Compare MetLife Pet Insurance vs. Spot Pet Insurance

Spot pet insurance is also for dogs and cats, and this company is another one that lets you choose your veterinarian and office. Spot allows policyholders to customize policies by selecting their annual coverage limit, reimbursement level, and deductible. Add-on coverage for preventative care is also available.

Spot offers both accident and injury coverage as well as accident-only coverage. Annual coverage limits range from $2,500 to unlimited, and reimbursement ranges from 70% to 90% after paying a deductible between $100 and $1,000.

Again, even if you choose unlimited coverage with Spot, it’s not necessarily more expensive than MetLife. In addition, its wide range of deductible options makes Spot accessible to pet parents from all walks of life.

Compare MetLife Pet Insurance vs. Healthy Paws Pet Insurance

Healthy Paws also offers dog and cat insurance with plans you can tweak to fit your needs. For example, you can opt for a pet insurance plan that reimburses at 70% or 80% up to annual limits and a deductible of $250 or $500.

One interesting note about Healthy Paws is that its pet insurance plans do not have any annual or lifetime limits. The company also says most of its claims are processed within two days.

Healthy Paws is one of the higher-performing pet insurance companies from what we’ve seen in customer reviews and otherwise. So while not every experience is the same, most Healthy Paws customers see fast claims processing times, strong customer service, and the coverage they need in a pinch.

Compared to MetLife, Healthy Paws is often faster, offers more comprehensive coverage, and pricing is similar.

Methodology

To build out this review of MetLife pet insurance, we compared a range of popular pet insurance companies based on available policies, including benefits, exclusions, and coverage limits. We also compared companies based on premiums charged for various pet profiles we created and whether annual or lifetime limits apply.

Our review only considered facts we gathered from pet insurance companies, although we also considered the financial health of companies and past user reviews.

One thing that sets pet insurance apart from other insurance types is the individuals involved. Companies like Healthy Paws, Figo, and Prudent started with pet lovers. As such, we see low premiums with generous coverage combined with strict preexisting condition exclusions to keep the companies solvent. In addition, it’s common for pet insurance providers to also donate to homeless pets and other pet-related causes.

Companies like MetLife have more experience in insurance in general. But, unfortunately, its pet insurance is treated as another product to bundle and keep an insured’s business in one place. The coverage limits, complaints about slow claims, and pricing separate MetLife from dedicated pet insurance providers in an unflattering way.

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