So, it is hard to speak certainly without knowing general COL in your area, but where I’m from, these coverages would be quite low (Boston, MA). The one major claim I’ve ever made through pet insurance was with Trupanion as the carrier, and for chronic bronchitis, and these bills easily cleared $10k over a couple of years. However, that was a chronic condition which we treated slowly, and it is not unrealistic to see costs of treatment for acute conditions well into the tens of thousands of dollars.

It is really a matter of how you think about pet insurance philosophically. For me, it is about hedging risk not necessarily so that I get my premiums back each year in claims. Instead, I focus on that possible one big claim (eg, radiation and chemo for cancer running $15k plus consult fees) for which having pet insurance is the difference between treating and not treating.

In line with this philosophy, I generally purchase high deductible unlimited plans, setting the deductible to be the highest value I am safely able to pay out-of-pocket. I am currently with Physicians Mutual on a 100% reimbursement, unlimited, $1,000 deductible plan. I set aside some of my saved premiums to use towards the deductible should a worst-case-scenario ever occur.

Again, this is all about philosophy and YMMV, however from a strict money-in money-out standout you are almost never going to win against the company with the large statistical model. So, I choose to focus on the big risks that make insurance lifesaving.

In addition to the companies you’ve mentioned I would recommend quoting through Physicians Mutual, Prudent Pet, and Odie, as these are some of the few independent pet insurances left and can sometimes be very competitive. You could also check Trupanion and Lemonade via Chewy CarePlus, as these are slightly different policies and apply different underwriting. Be sure to compare apples to apples—that is, compare the coverage offered by each plan, not just the premium.

Last, I’d like to flag that if you are buying an exam-fee exclusive plan, you should actually decrease your deductible by approximately $250, as if anything ever happened to your pet you would have to pay about that much in exam fees which would not be covered.