Digging Deeper: 10 Questions You MUST Ask About Voluntary Pet Benefits

When it comes to pet health insurance, do you feel like you’re spoiled for choice?

With annual double-digit growth, it’s no wonder that both employers and carriers are jumping on the pet benefits bandwagon. They’re one of today’s hottest voluntary benefits, and it seems like every insurance company is adding it to their offering.

But, as a broker or HR professional, how do you choose? On the surface, the plans look similar. How can you know which will fully serve employers, employees, and pets?

Now more than ever, it’s necessary to look beneath the surface, dig deeper, and ask questions. Here’s our list of 10 must-ask questions to find the best plan for you and your pet families.

1. Is it easy for employees to understand the plan’s benefits and terms?

According to a Zeldis Thought Leadership Study, a key barrier to purchasing pet insurance is a pet parent not understanding its value.

You may be familiar with the benefits of pet health insurance, but your employees may not be. You may have experience deciphering insurance plans, but your new hires do not. And if they can’t understand the plan, they can’t appreciate its value.

What makes a plan easy to understand?

• Employee education materials are written in easy-to-read, human language
• Straightforward policy terms
• Readily available and transparent plan details
• An obvious connection between paying the premiums and saving money on pet care

Employees who face a slew of jargony conditions, fine print, and disclaimers will distrust the plan. If the upfront cost seems too high, they likely won’t be interested, even if it may save them money in the long run.

On the other hand, extras such as telehealth benefits or a lost pet recovery service add to employees’ perceptions of a plan’s value.

2. Are there options for diverse pet families?

When the Zeldis Study looked at how pet parents chose insurance, they found that people compared 2-3 plans before settling on the best fit for their family. Clearly, pet insurance is not one-size-fits-all.

A plan may be excellent for a healthy puppy but lacks coverage for a mature dog with chronic conditions. Another can be highly cost-effective for the older dog and much too expensive for the younger one.

To pick the best plan for your offering, you want to serve as many pet families as possible. Ask if the plan has options for:

• Older pets
• Younger pets
• Exotic pets
• Multi-pet families.

Ask the carrier if the plan has upper or lower age limits. Some plans won’t cover pets under or over a set age. Verify that employees who enroll in a policy won’t lose coverage once their pet surpasses the age limit.

Especially for brokers or HR decision-makers who aren’t pet parents themselves, it’s crucial to shift perspective and understand what a plan means in real life for a pet and its parents.

3. Are the rates affordable for pet families?

Prioritizing this point is where companies distinguish themselves as being employee-focused. For example, a flat rate plan is a huge bonus for HR; however, is the plan affordable for the employee?

Some non-insurance pet benefits offer flat rate plans, and you have the best of both worlds. But for traditional style insurance, flat rates are usually far more expensive than getting individual quotes per pet.

In general, calculating the actual cost of pet insurance can be tricky. You can only accurately compare quotes for the same breed, age, and location. It’s also not enough to look only at the premiums alone. To understand the plan’s actual value, you need to compare the cost vs. the coverage.

If a plan has low premiums but minimal coverage, your employees might pay more out of pocket than with a plan that has higher premiums and more coverage.

An overlooked part of the out-of-pocket cost of pet insurance is the plan’s deductible. Does the plan offer an annual or per-incident deductible? Annual deductibles are met once a year while per incident deductibles must be met for each claim. Higher per incident deductibles mean greater out-of-pocket costs and no reimbursement for claims that don’t surpass the deductible. Depending on the number of claims submitted, per-incident deductibles can really add up.

4. What are the policies for pre-existing conditions?

Insurance companies deny coverage for pre-existing conditions because covering them would drive up the cost of premiums for all policyholders. You can’t purchase a car insurance policy after a wreck and expect the damages to be paid for. But not all pre-existing conditions clauses are created equal.

Employees love plans that cover pre-existing conditions but be sure to clarify the waiting periods. Waiting periods before coverage kicks in means a pet’s treatment for any current or pre-existing conditions won’t be covered for upwards of 12 months. A dog with heartworm or kennel cough CAN’T wait twelve months for treatment!

For plans that exclude pre-existing conditions, you’ll want to ask if curable conditions will have coverage. This means that conditions cleared of symptoms for a certain amount of time prior to the policy effective date would be covered in the event they reappeared (urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal issues, etc.).

It may be enlightening to compare the lists of excluded conditions for plans that don’t cover pre-existing conditions. (And if the list isn’t easily available, that’s a red flag!)

5. Is routine care included?

Especially for young pets, wellness care can be the primary healthcare cost. Is routine care included in the plan? If not, can employees purchase a wellness rider?

It’s important to look carefully at each wellness rider. Does it include a complete list of wellness services?

• Spay/neuter or teeth cleaning
• Rabies
• Flea/tick prevention
• Heartworm prevention
• Vaccination/titer
• Wellness exam
• Heartworm test or FELV screen
• Blood, fecal, parasite exam
• Microchip
• Urinalysis or ERD
• Deworming

Look at the wellness rider from the perspective of a pet parent. What’s the reimbursement for each service? If the cost of the plan is what a person will pay out of pocket anyway, it’s not worth it.

Transparency matters! Detailed info about any routine care add-ons should be clear and readily available.

6. Is it easy for employees to use the plan?

Employees will enroll in a plan if they understand it. They’ll renew coverage if they have a smooth, positive member experience.

To determine a plan’s ease of use, ask if the plan offers:

• An easy-to-navigate member account
• A vet direct-pay option
• Waived waiting periods
• Voluntary benefits-trained support

7. How user-friendly is the claims process?

The claims process is the heart of the user experience. It’s why your employees signed up for the benefit! And since pet parents pay out of pocket before being reimbursed, they need to know that claims will be processed quickly.

Every carrier touts its easy claims process, but asking these specific questions will drill down into the details:

• What steps must be taken to file a claim?
• For how long after the service date can you file a claim?
• How long is the claims turnaround time?
• Is there a waiting period for filing specific claims?

8. Are the benefits easy to administer?

Voluntary benefits should be simple for HR, too. Insurance can be complex, but well-thought-out plans will be designed to ease HR administration. For example:

• Will the plan integrate with your benefits administration platform?
• Better yet, does it offer pre-set implementation with your HCM software?
• Does the carrier provide educational materials for your employees?
• Are there group minimum requirements?
• What is the payroll deduct set-up process?
• Does the carrier offer a dedicated account representative?
• Are there ample help resources and self-service administration options?

Flat rates for traditional pet insurance can certainly ease administration but it may also be an indicator of the need to dig deeper into a plan’s value and sustainability.

9. Is the offering sustainable?

Put another way, is the plan too good to be true? If the plan doesn’t seem to make sense from a business perspective, it may not be viable.

It’s hard to assess the future longevity of a plan, but you should look at the company’s past performance. You can feel reassured if it has a proven, stable track record.

10. Does the carrier have experience with voluntary pet benefits?

Voluntary pet benefits are a unique breed; a mix of two specialties. First, they require expertise in group plan administration and how to provide the smoothest experience possible to brokers, HR, and employees. Second, they need a deep understanding of pets’ healthcare needs and how to give them the best care possible.

When a carrier says it’s experienced, you’ll want to look beyond the surface. Some companies specialize in pet health insurance but don’t have experience in the group benefits space. Others specialize in group benefits and happen to offer a pet benefits product. For best results, find a carrier with proven results in both areas.

“It’s not enough to have coverage. It’s not enough to have simplicity,” explains Becky Schaen, PBS Marketing Director. “Total Pet Plan and Wishbone offer easy, affordable, comprehensive coverage that focuses on all four.”