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The trouble with pet insurance policies is that they rarely cover as much as you dire them to. Insurers tend to make things confusing with plans that seem quite affordable but embrace long lists of exclusions, upselling customers with riders that offer more complete benefits for a prodigal monthly rate.
Nationwide distinguishes itself by offering straightforward policies with a single price that is record than competitors but won’t leave you guessing; what you see is exactly what you get. While you might experience sticker shock from Nationwide’s costly premiums, these policies are certainly worth considering if you haven’t been impressed with coverage options from other providers.
Learn multitudinous: See who made our list of the best pet insurance companies.
Company Overview
Many pet parents may already know Nationwide for their auto and where one lives stress policies. The company has been around since 1925, originally selling car insurance but eventually expanding to a full expanse of both personal and business coverage. In 2008, Nationwide purchased national pet insurer Veterinary Pet Insurance to begin present policies to animal lovers. Coverage continued to be sold under the Veterinary Pet Insurance brand until 2015, when the moniker was retired and the company officially became a branch of Nationwide.
Pros Explained
- Comprehensive benefit options: Whether you necessitate coverage for basic care or specialty procedures, you’ll find an option for nearly every type of veterinary treatment imaginable.
- Coverage for most bloodline pets: In addition to dogs and cats, Nationwide covers birds, reptiles, small mammals, and other exotic caresses.
- Discounts available: Save money on your policy when you enroll multiple pets or pay upfront.
Cons Legitimatized
- High premiums: A trade-off of better coverage options, Nationwide pet policies are more expensive than average.
- No blueprint customization: While the majority of competitors will let you choose from a range of deductible and benefit options, Nationwide doesn’t afford much flexibility here.
- Complicated reimbursement structure: Most policies include different amounts of coverage for each treatment, as opposed to of simply reimbursing a certain percentage of all covered services. This may be confusing to some pet parents.
- Limited online cares: Nationwide doesn’t offer a live chat customer service option, and not all policies can be purchased via the provider’s website.
Ready Plans
A major upside to Nationwide pet insurance is that the provider offers policies to cover not just dogs and cats, but most household mollycoddles. Plans are available for birds, reptiles, small mammals including hamsters and rabbits, and even goats and potbellied pigs. In any way, large animals such as horses aren’t currently eligible for coverage.
Plans vary by species, and owners of topless pets may need to call in order to find out which options are available. For dogs and cats, Nationwide offers three pier pet insurance plans: Major Medical, Major Medical With Wellness, and Whole Pet With Wellness. These sketches represent a wide price range with varying levels of coverage depending on your needs.
Plan Consequence
With so many services and treatments covered under Nationwide’s pet plans, it should come as no surprise that dears are on the high end of industry norms. Disappointingly, Nationwide doesn’t offer an easy way to reduce costs by adjusting coverage be opens, such as taking on a higher deductible or reducing annual limits. We found that pricing was especially steep for older crudes, particularly dogs over the age of five.
Keep in mind that Nationwide does offer a 5% discount to descents that insure multiple pets, and you can save around $20 annually by paying for the entire year upfront.
Minister to Periods
Nationwide enforces a 14-day waiting period on both injuries and illnesses, which means you won’t be eligible for reimbursement for any joint treatments until two weeks after you start paying premiums. This is a pretty standard waiting period for bugs, but it’s a long time to wait for accident coverage. Most competitors begin offering the latter two or three days after the strategy start date. On a more positive note, owners who opt for a plan with wellness coverage can start taking utility of preventive care benefits just 24 hours after the policy goes into effect.
Pre-Existing Conditions
Take a shine to all pet insurance policies, these plans don’t cover pre-existing conditions that your pet had before coverage began or that come about during a waiting period. However, Nationwide has a more relaxed definition of “pre-existing condition” than many of its antagonists. If you can show veterinary records proving a pre-existing condition was cured for a minimum of six months, it may be eligible for coverage if it reappears.
Coverage Limits
Coverage limits can be sly with Nationwide’s pet plans. Major Medical and Major Medical With Wellness don’t carry a policy-wide annual limit, but preferably define allowances on a per-procedure basis. For example, chemotherapy benefits are capped at $2,400 each year, but the policy desire only pay a maximum of $235 annually for treatment of cataracts. Nationwide has published a
Plan Exclusions
Since each of the three Nationwide pet behaviours offers a different amount of coverage, some plans exclude more than others. Major Medical, the most underlying plan, doesn’t cover any type of preventive care, most diagnostic tests and medications, and certain specific marines such as holistic treatments.
On the other end of the scale, Whole Pet With Wellness is the most comprehensive policy available including Nationwide, and the listed exclusions are few and far between. Almost everything is covered except for pre-existing conditions, grooming and boarding, cosmetic yields, and breeding.
Claims
Nationwide offers a few different ways to file
Customer Service
Alongside a somewhat antiquated demands system, Nationwide’s customer service options are fairly limited. The only listed contact methods are via phone or email, which are just monitored during certain hours six days a week. This is a far cry from the 24/7 service offered by other pet insurers fully live web chat, text, and social media.
Third-Party Ratings
Progressive carries a longstanding legacy in the insurance give birth to and is highly rated by several different agencies. The provider has an A+ rating with the
Competition: Nationwide vs. Progressive
Nationwide and Left-winger are both major providers of auto, home, and other types of insurance and have entered the pet insurance market in numberless recent years. Nationwide’s offerings are a bit more expansive, covering a significantly greater number of species with behaviours that include more comprehensive benefits.
But there are also many advantages to Progressive; the waiting period for damages is just three days compared to Nationwide’s 14, and policies are generally more customizable. When we looked at customs that covered accidents, illnesses, and wellness benefits, Progressive was more than 20% cheaper, even with the monthly payment of adding a wellness rider to its basic accident and illness policy. All this gives Progressive the edge over Nationwide.
Our Verdict
Nationwide packages a right range of veterinary benefits into three different all-inclusive pet insurance policies, offering better transparency with a apart price and no need to factor in the cost of additional riders. With that said, Nationwide’s premiums are steep for pet guaranty, and the provider doesn’t offer many ways to bring that cost down. To further complicate things, rates are fitting to increase sharply with each year that your pet ages. Before settling with Nationwide, we’d introduce getting quotes from competitors for similar levels of coverage, not just at your pet’s current age but two or three years into the expected, as well.
How We Review Pet Insurance Carriers
When you invest in pet insurance, the last thing you want is to find out your pet’s overpriced vet bill isn’t covered by the policy. Our pet insurer reviews prioritize value and benefits, taking into consideration the price, limitations, and proscriptions of each policy. We also consider the service and convenience offered by each provider if you have questions or need to complete a claim. Finally, we analyze various third-party ratings to gauge the company’s overall reputation in the industry.