Healthy Paws | Pet Insurance Review

Healthy Paws has been very caring and given us excellent service. Our little girl, Bella needed surgery and all I needed to do was send the bills and her records and the bill was promptly paid, no questions asked. Veterinary care is very expensive today, so having a back up is very important.

great, get claim done in 10 days without any trouble

This was a super-easy process as my vet submitted the claim directly on my behalf. I was notified along the way of the status of my claim, and Healthy Paws covered the procedure to the fullest extent. The team at Healthy Pet also reached out after the procedure to check on my puppy and make sure he was OK. Great experience!

My wife and I are older, and after going without a dog for 17-years, we decided to open our home and hearts to a new puppy last year. I did say we're older and a bit wiser, yes? My wife suggested that we purchase a pet insurance policy, "just in case" and researched them all. I went along with the idea out of an abundance of caution and decided to go with Healthy Paws based on their high ratings of consumer satisfaction. The premiums were reasonable and it seemed like a prudent idea. We were very careful when selecting our puppy - and we were thrilled to have first pick of the litter of twelve beautiful pups. We carefully tested each puppy with the Volhard method and were delighted with our selection. Prudence, as she would be called, was the perfect addition to our family. Pru passed the breeder's own veterinary exam, but we still wanted our own vet to check her thoroughly the day after we brought her home so we could be certain that we got a healthy puppy. Again, she passed the exam with flying colors and we were so happy. We began her training immediately. We applied for Healthy Paws insurance, triggering the two week waiting period and went on with the business of house training Pru and getting her used to her new surroundings. Sometime over the next several weeks, I noticed that when I tossed a small toy for her to catch, that it would sail right over her head before she would react and fetch it. Other times, when I tossed a ball or other toy across the room for her to retrieve, she frequently wouldn't track directly to it, but to the side, then close in on the object. When I asked our vet about it during one of her scheduled vaccination exams, he took a closer look at her eyes and said that he saw some irregularities with her lens and that while it might be something she would outgrow or treated, it could be something more serious and we would be well advised to take her to an animal ophthalmologist in our area for a thorough eye exam. We followed up with the ophthalmologist three days after Christmas and were devastated when we were informed that Prudence had at least three or four inherited eye defects and that her vision was like basically looking through cracked glass and worse still, she was forming cataracts already that would lead to eventual total blindness. Her first exam included the diagnosis and medication and cost over $200. This was our first submission to Healthy Paws. The app made it SO easy to submit our claim and within less than a week, Healthy Paws advised us that the full amount of the bill would be applied to our annual deductible, as Healthy Paws is one of the few (perhaps only?) pet insurers to cover inherited genetic defects that weren't identified prior to the insurance inception date. Healthy Paws asked for our complete veterinarian records, which both our primary and specialist vets supplied, verifying that we had no prior knowledge of Pru's inherited vision problems. The ophthalmologist wanted to track Pru's eye condition on a monthly basis in order to ascertain the advancement of her impairment and to check the pressure of Pru's eyes in order to adjust the frequency of the three different types of eye drops we would have to administer at least twice daily for the rest of her life. And once again, Healthy Paws had our back, each time, with no hesitations or questions. This made our ordeal so much less stressful, as we sadly watched Pru's eyesight deteriorate with each passing month of her first year. With each subsequent visit to the ophthalmologist, the news only got worse for Pru. Her cataracts were filling in, leaving her with only some peripheral vision - for the time being, until the edges of the cataracts filled in and she would be left totally blind. While cataract surgery could save her vision and provide her with near normal to normal vision by also removing another of her vision blockages, the surgery would be extremely risky due to her genetic defects which are prone to more complications during surgery. Our ophthalmologist said that Pru would have to have her internal eye structure tested to see if she would even be qualified for the sight saving surgery, and in the unlikely chance she was, our ophthalmologist would refer us to a highly skilled specialist with both the experience and equipment to handle the likely complications that might occur, because as skilled as our local ophthalmologist is, she didn't want to risk performing this extra delicate surgery herself. Healthy Paws had processed all of our subsequent claims since that initial diagnosis in December promptly, and without question, but I was holding my breath when I submitted the invoice for the cataract surgery testing, which was over $900. Healthy Paws reimbursed us, just as they had with each prior claim, within a day or two. We were delighted to finally get some good news from our ophthalmologist - the tests revealed that Pru was a viable candidate for the surgery and that there was no advantage, only disadvantages, to waiting. We contacted the specialist and scheduled Pru's cataract surgery. As this was a specialist, we were going to have to travel out of town, rent a hotel room for a couple of nights and expect to pay more for the surgery. The week before the surgery, I called and spoke with Edward at Healthy Paws, who reassured me that yes, Pru's surgery would be covered, even with a specialist who was going to cost more. While our travel expenses were something we would have to cover (and were glad to), Healthy Paws would cover 90% of the surgical cost, as that was the plan option we had selected when we first enrolled. On the morning of the surgery, the specialist gave Pru another exam and explained the risks to us. Prudence would either walk out being able to see with both eyes, or she might leave with one eye blinded and the other left untreated if things didn't go well. As this was literally our pups last chance of being able to see, we opted to take the risk, as she would most certainly be totally blind in a matter of months if we didn't. To see how the surgery turned out, see Pru's story on YouTube. This site prohibits links, so just search "Dear Prudence: A Cautionary Doodle Tale" on YouTube and watch the short video. We are extremely thankful that we chose Healthy Paws, and grateful for their commitment and dedication to animals and their families.

My poor Husky has had 3 major surgeries in 14 months. Two ACL repairs and one to repair a tiny hole in his lungs. Healthy Paws has paid all three of those claims as expected and we have no complaints. Just understand what is paid for an what is not paid for. The cost of a office visit is not covered. Food is not covered and routine vaccinations are not covered. Pre-existing conditions are not covered. There is also a yearly deductible and in our case it is $250. My dog is my family and it's worth it to pay a few bucks a month to be sure he gets the care he need if he ever needs it. To me I would rather pay for it for 15 years and never use it then not pay for it and have to make a decision one time based on money. It is well worth it.