Compare Pets Best and Healthy Paws
Pets Best and Healthy Paws are both strong choices for pet insurance, each earning high scores based on our review methodology. Each provider offers a comprehensive accident and illness policy with options for unlimited coverage, plus several unique perks that set these two pet insurance companies apart.
Pets Best has a more extensive product catalog than Healthy Paws, offering a standard pet insurance plan, accident-only policy and wellness add-on. It also allows you to fine-tune your policy with different coverage limits, deductibles and reimbursement levels to choose from.
Healthy Paws excels when it comes time to file a claim. As a policyholder, you can file a claim using the company’s mobile app and can expect to receive reimbursement within two business days. Pets Best also has a mobile app, but takes significantly longer to issue payouts for claims — 42 days for an accident or illness and 12 days for wellness claims.
Both providers offer a 30-day free-look period in which you can decide to cancel your policy for a full refund. However, Healthy Paws doesn’t offer this feature in New York, Pennsylvania or South Carolina.
See a side-by-side comparison of these providers in the table below.
| Star Rating | ||
| Best For | Our Pick for Vet Direct Pay | Most Affordable Unlimited Coverage |
| Coverage limits | $5,000–Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Deductibles | $100–$1,000 | $100–$500 |
| Reimbursement rates | 70%-90% | 70%-90% |
| Wellness care add-on | Yes | No |
| Pre-existing condition coverage | No | No |
| Multi-pet discount | 5% | No |
| Star Rating | ||
| Best For | Our Pick for Vet Direct Pay | Most Affordable Unlimited Coverage |
| Coverage limits | $5,000–Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Deductibles | $100–$1,000 | $100–$500 |
| Reimbursement rates | 70%-90% | 70%-90% |
| Wellness care add-on | Yes | No |
| Pre-existing condition coverage | No | No |
| Multi-pet discount | 5% | No |
Pets Best vs. Healthy Paws Coverage
Not all pet insurance providers are equal. Many differentiate on more than just price, with unique plans, perks and features to offer.
Healthy Paws offers one accident and illness policy with unlimited coverage. There are no limits on claims payouts per-incident, per-year or over your pet’s lifetime.
- Accident and illness: This plan covers recommended vet care for covered accidents, illnesses, cancer, and hereditary, congenital and chronic conditions. It includes diagnostic tests, prescription medications, surgery, hospitalization and emergency care. Coverage also includes alternative treatments, such as homeopathy, herbal therapy, laser therapy and hydrotherapy.
Alternatively, Pets Best’s accident and illness plan, called BestBenefit, offers three levels of coverage:
- Essential: A basic plan that covers accidents, illnesses, cancer treatments, hereditary and congenital conditions, emergency care, surgery, diagnostics and prescription medicines listed in Pets Best’s formulary.
- Plus: Covers everything included in the Essential plan, plus added coverage for accident and illness exam fees.
- Elite: The most comprehensive plan that includes coverage for rehabilitation, acupuncture and chiropractic treatments.
- Accident-only: This plan is ideal for pet parents on a budget. It provides a small amount of coverage for accidental injuries (but not illnesses) including broken bones, animal bites, open wounds, swallowed foreign objects and vehicular injuries. It features a $10,000 annual limit, a $250 annual deductible and a 90% reimbursement rate.
All the above plans have similar exclusions, such as preexisting conditions, elective and preventative procedures, and non-veterinary expenses. Healthy Paws has a bilateral exclusion for cruciate ligament injuries, meaning that a preexisting injury on one leg excludes the other leg from coverage. Additionally, neither Healthy Paws nor Pets Best imposes an upper age limit, making both a good choice for older pets.
| Coverage | Pets Best Plans | Healthy Paws Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Exam fees | Covered by Plus and Elite plans | ✘ |
| Microchip implantation | Covered by routine care add-ons | ✘ |
| Hip dysplasia | Covered after 14 months | Covered after 12 months |
| Alternative therapy | Covered by Elite plan | Covered by base plan |
| Dental treatment | Available for pets aged 0 to 2. Pets aged 3+ must show clean dental records from the past 13 months to qualify for coverage | Only covered if related to an accident or illness |
Preventive Care Options
In addition to standard pet insurance policies that cover accents and illnesses, some providers offer preventative care add-ons for an extra fee. While pet health insurance is there for when emergency strikes, wellness coverage is designed to help with the cost of ongoing, routine veterinary bills.
Healthy Paws pet insurance doesn’t offer a wellness plan, so Pets Best is the better option if covering routine vet bills is important to you. The company’s wellness add-on helps to pay for regularly scheduled vet visits, vaccinations, heart-worm prevention, dental illness and spay or neuter surgery. You can choose from two tiers, EssentialWellness and BestWellness, each with its own coverage limits for various procedures and treatments. These plans add a flat fee of $16 or $26 to your monthly cost, respectively.
Pets Best vs. Healthy Paws Premiums
The cost of pet insurance often varies based on your location and your pet’s age and breed. While your policy premiums typically won’t rise due to your claims history like human health insurance, providers may increase rates as your pet ages and the cost of veterinary care rises.
When comparing premiums for Pets Best and Healthy Paws, it’s clear that Pets Best is the cheaper option. We gathered quotes for each provider with the same sample pets, accident and illness policy coverage, deductible and reimbursement rate. The quotes from Healthy Paws were more expensive in all scenarios.
The table below shows monthly rates for accident and illness coverage based on sample quotes for 4-year-old pets in Raleigh, N.C., with unlimited coverage, a $500 deductible and a standard 80% reimbursement rate.
| Pet Breed | Pets Best | Healthy Paws |
|---|---|---|
| Labrador retriever | $34.08 | $61.11 |
| Golden retriever | $34.69 | $61.11 |
| Miniature poodle | $18.67 | $41.35 |
| Ragdoll cat | $14.53 | $24.17 |
Pets Best’s accident-only coverage, which Healthy Paws doesn’t offer, starts at $6 per month for cats and $9 per month for dogs.
Pets Best vs. Healthy Paws Discounts
In addition to having lower premiums before you apply any discounts, Pets Best offers three ways to reduce your cost. You are eligible for 5% off if you enroll multiple pets, if you or an immediate family member is in the military or if you have worked for a veterinary clinic. These discounts are stackable, so, for example, a military member enrolling two pets would get both the military and multi-pet discounts for a combined 10% off.
Healthy Paws doesn’t offer any discounts.
Pets Best vs. Healthy Paws Reviews
Pet insurance providers should be graded on the treatment of actual customers, not just how the company represents itself in marketing materials. We read more than 100 reviews on third-party aggregator websites like Trustpilot and the BBB to give you an idea of the customer experience for each company.
Healthy Paws has an A rating with the BBB and scores an overall customer review score of 4 out of 5 stars. Pets Best has an A+ rating and scores 4.8 out of 5 stars with customers. Take a look at these examples of real-world experiences with each provider below.
We contacted both companies for comments on negative reviews but didn’t receive a response.
Pets Best customer reviews:
“Wonderful company! I have had two claims paid back quickly. Glad I purchased [pet insurance] when my dog was a puppy.” — Amber B. via the BBB
“I feel like Pets Best is a waste of money. Each claim I’ve filed has been denied for one reason or another. What’s the point of paying monthly if it isn’t going to cover the medical expenses or just a portion of the medical expense?? I’m disappointed that I’m about to cancel my cat’s coverage and save myself $50 a month.” — Sharna D. via the BBB
Healthy Paws customer reviews:
“Amazing company! Never had any issues sending claims and getting approvals and reimbursed. Fast, easy and always reliable! My baby got injured and had back surgery and we got reimbursed within about one week. Much better than my own health coverage.” — Julie N. via the BBB
“We’ve had Healthy Paws insurance for seven years. We used to pay $250 a month for two dogs. After Chubb Corp. bought Healthy Paws, it hiked our monthly premium for one dog to $256. Then it hiked again to $320.45 this month. I understand that the premium for an older dog should be a little higher, but what can justify that increase aside from greed? It’s clear [Healthy Paws] is trying to unload older dogs from the balance sheet. And one more thing … [Healthy Paws] is awful at reimbursing now. Bring back the old Healthy Paws!” — Kim G. via the BBB
The Bottom Line: Which Provider Is the Best for You?
Pet owners looking for a fast and easy claims process should consider Healthy Paws, which doesn’t require a claims form and processes requests faster than Pets Best. The Healthy Paws accident and illness plan also stands out for including alternative therapies that your licensed veterinarian recommends and performs.
Healthy Paws also helps animals in need, not just your enrolled pets. For every completed online claim form, the company donates to charities supporting homeless animals. This helps some pet owners feel better about their policy’s higher premium compared to Pets Best.
However, if you’re on a tight budget or looking for preventative care coverage, Pets Best is the provider to consider. Its premiums are consistently lower than Healthy Paws’ for the same coverage limit, deductible and reimbursement rate. It also offers more options to tweak policy details and, ultimately, your monthly rate. Pets Best doesn’t cover holistic treatment but does pay for exam fees, depending on the coverage tier you select.
Both of these top pet health insurance providers offer comprehensive coverage at affordable rates. Ultimately, the one you choose comes down to policy details and your pet’s needs. It’s important to be well-informed about any pet insurance plan before purchasing. We recommend getting quotes from at least three providers before making your decision.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pet Insurance
Yes, Healthy Paws pet insurance premiums may increase as your pet ages and based on other factors. The company considers your cat or dog’s breed, gender, age and location when determining your rates. However, your individual claims history is not considered.
In our comparison between Pets Best and Healthy Paws, Pets Best is the cheapest pet insurance. However, you may find cheaper rates with other carriers like Lemonade or Embrace. It’s important to gather quotes from multiple pet insurance providers before enrolling your pet in a policy.
No, Healthy Paws does not cover routine vet visits in its pet insurance policies. While some providers offer add-on coverage for wellness or routine care, Healthy Paws does not.
You can read more about Healthy Paws coverage in our provider review guide.