Healthy Paws | Pet Insurance Review

We insured our dog with Healthy Paws the day we brought him home in 2015. We’ve stayed loyal for ten years, paying every single month, because we wanted peace of mind if he ever got sick. When we enrolled, our premium was $33/month. It’s been raised year after year — and we accepted that, because pets get older. But today, after a decade of loyalty and barely $1,000 reimbursed total, our premium is being raised to $352/month. That’s more than 10x what we started at. 1000% increase. Here’s the part that feels truly cruel: this notice arrived immediately after we submitted a claim for testing on a newly diagnosed heart condition. For years, while our dog was healthy, we paid faithfully with almost no return. The moment he needs care? The policy becomes unaffordable. This is not insurance — it’s a bait-and-switch. They happily take your money while your pet is young, and once your dog ages or develops an issue, they jack up your rate so high that you’re forced to drop coverage. It’s predatory and it preys on families who love their animals. We’ve been loyal customers for 10 years. To be treated this way, at the exact moment our dog actually needs help, is shameful. If you’re considering this company, please think twice. Don’t make the mistake we did.

I have been a HealthyPaws customer since 2014. I currently have 3 dogs on my plan. When I signed up the policy stated that premium increases were ONLY applied in line with rising costs due to vet care in my particular area. There were supposedly NO increases in premium based on claims made or pet age. My vet has increased their prices across the board roughly 40% over the course of the last 11 years, and yet my premiums have gone up 1,000%. They still claim the increases are due to costs of vet care increasing in my area, which anyone with a basic education can see is a blatant lie. The thing is that they know that pet insurance companies are allowed to deny claims for pre-existing conditions, so when your dog is old and has a condition or two, they jack up your rates because if you leave, you won’t get covered anywhere else. This is absolutely disgusting and absolutely fraudulent. The promise to only increase cost based on vet premiums rising in my area was ON MY CONTRACT when I first signed up. They disable the ability to comment on their social media posts because the posts are 90% people like me who have been seriously wronged by them. Don’t get sucked in. It will be fine for a few years. They are pretty good with handling claims quickly so it’s easy to think this company is great at first. It’s as if they wait until they know your dog has conditions and then they start piling on the increases with no verifiable proof that vet costs have increased. Just run. I hope they get a big fat class action suit and are found guilty of fraud.

Healthy Paws is on a downward spiral. I don’t know what has happened to them. (1) It seems that Healthy Paws may have outsourced their Call Center to a foreign country; one call to Healthy Paws, and I have an intense headache, my interaction with the Healthy Paws, alleged, Customer Service representative was horrifying, with no evidence of “customer service." (2) The person I spoke with at the Healthy Paws Call Center, or attempted to speak with, had so much background noise, that I could hardly hear him, never mind understand him. It sounded like he was on a runway at Kennedy Airport.

Sadly, Healthy Paws has gone WAY downhill. I've been with the company for about 12 years and they have always paid out for my cat, and paid out quickly so that is what gets the three stars but EVERYTHING else gets a zero star. Let's start with premiums—they go up over 100% a year. I started out paying about $20 a month and now am at about $100 a month for an indoor cat. They moved their customer service abroad somewhere so now it is TERRIBLE. One of the things I loved about the company was its well-spoken, knowledgeable service reps. Now it is people you can hardly understand, who are in a loud room with tons of other people, and they read off scripts. They also just hang up on you if you ask anything at all that is slightly complicated. You will also wait on the phone interminably and listen to extremely LOUD rock music. Take the day off work so you can deal with any Healthy Paws calls. They do not have a chat and you can email them but they just don't answer emails. AWFUL. The website. You can't "add a pet." The button is there but if you try to do it, you're told you need to start a new account from a new email. Why? Who knows. You can't upload photos of your pet. Again, the button is there but if you try to do it, nothing happens. This has been the last two cats I've tried to add pictures for. It also put in an incorrect address into the system for some reason, yet they refuse to allow you to correct it for a month. Bizarro "reasons" will follow. I used to recommend the company to everyone as I rescue and adopt out cats but won't be anymore.

I have been a loyal customer since 2018, but recently Healthy Paws increase in my monthly premium from $124 to $346 a month for a single pet, which is unacceptable. For a healthy 13-year-old senior pet, the nearly threefold jump feels punitive, particularly when finding alternative coverage at this age is next to impossible. What makes this even more disappointing is the clear contradiction between Healthy Paws actions and their stated values. On their website, they claim: • “First and foremost, we’re pet-lovers. Everything we do is driven by our love of animals and our commitment to pet health.” • “Our compassion for animals… drives us to offer the best product and an extraordinary caliber of service.” • “Pet Insurance plans to protect your pet and your finances.” Yet raising premiums to such an outrageous level for loyal, long-term customers demonstrates the opposite of compassion and care. Instead of protecting pets and easing financial stress, adjusting my policy premium to $342 a month for one pet does the exact opposite. As someone who works in the pet care industry and spends every day in veterinary hospitals, I have recommended Healthy Paws to countless families over the years. Sadly, I can no longer do so in good conscience. This experience has completely eroded my trust in their company and what they claim to stand for.