Pet Insurance Canada
71If you are an American pet owner who will be visiting Canada with your pet, then your US-based pet insurer will likely cover any possible veteranary expenses incurred while in Canada (you should check with your insurer to be sure). But pet-owners living in Canada also have a wide range of options for pet insurance. I will discuss a few of the major ones here.
One Canadian pet insurer with a prominent website is suitably named PetCare Pet Insurance. I should tell you honestly that I have never used this pet insurer, but have read customer reviews at http://www.petinsurancereview.com . Many reviews say that this company is just ok, and others say that they are downright bad. Some complaints are that customer service is very difficult to deal with, and that any diagnostic tests are uncovered because they are considered "preventative or elective treatment". Other customers seem satisfied and had their claims approved as they expected.
Another Canadian insurer is VetInsurance. This insurer based in North Vancouver, BC, gets resoundingly great reviews because of excellent customer service and no-hassle approval of claims. It seems that this company has bo agenda of denying legitimite claims and cares about its relationship with customers.
Another insurer is Petsecure. Petsecure gets overwhelmingly great reviews. I have heard of only one exception, which was a customer whose claim payouts started to be gradually reduced as his pet had a chronic condition. Other than that, almost all customer reports I have read have rated them 10/10.
We all know of Purina as a famous producer of pet food, but Purina Care Canada is also a pet insurance company. From all of the reviews I have read about Purina's service, they are a very standard pet insurer, who provides you with the claim payouts that you are entitled to in your terms and conditons, but is also firm about exclusions and increasing premiums after you make claims. Purina is a professional company and customer service is known to be one of their strongpoints, but it seems that they follow the contract to the letter and go no further. With that said, they do provide what they are supposed to and are not known to deny legitimate claims.
The above outline covers just a few major Canadian pet insurers. There are many others around, and I encourage you to shop around and find a plan that suits your needs. All of the above are well-known companies, but VetInsurance and Petsecure have earned my approval through their overwhelmingly positive consumer reviews.
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I agree with T. Peressini's comment regarding PetSecure, especially point #5. When we lost our dog to bone cancer in September, we submitted just under $1300 worth of eligible receipts and the final payout was $151.05!
T Peressini 22 months ago
Petsecure is one of the most dishonest, greedy and unethical companies I have ever done business with; the only company worse is Roger's Cable TV. They are constantly changing their policies and your personal policy to make it easier for them to charge you more and for them to decline payment. Here are some of the things they don't tell you:
1. You are personally responsible for a portion of the cost, over and above the deductable;
2. As you pet ages the deductable and you portion of the costs increases dramatically;
3. The randomly add exclusions to your policy to ensure that they don't payout on common ailments that are 'supposedly' covered by the plan;
4. Their first response is to always decline payment, after which you have to fight and argue with them to honor the plan; and
5. The consistently increase the cost of your plan (about every 6 months) and change the terms and conditions of their policies, so that you never have a clear idea of what your coverage is.
Pet insurance is a good thing - if you can find and honest company with reasonable rates. Unfortunately, like the human insurance industry, the pet insurance industry is about profits, not about honest, fairness or ethics.
The only company that I have come across that aren't out to screw the consumer at all costs is Vet Insurance. Their rates are comparable, all of the conditions of their policy are clear and unhidden and they provide reliable service - they pay out without bullying or abusing the consumer.
Do not get Petsecure Health Insurance - unless you are interested in and ready to get completely screwed. Go with Vet Insurance, they at least try to be fair and reasonable!