Lemonade Pet Health Insurance Review - What You NEED to Know

Do you have a dog or cat and are wondering whether pet insurance is worth the cost?Let;s take a look at Lemonade’s coverage options and my personal experiences from application to claim.

While having a pet is great most of the time, it’s definitely less fun when they need to visit a vet. Luckily, pet health insurance policies may be able to help take some ofthe financial sting out of these incidents. On that note, let’s take a closer look at Lemonade’s dog and cat insurance policies including some pros and cons.

The first things to know about Lemonade pet insurance are where it’s available and how to start the application process

Currently, although Lemonade is apparently working its way to more states, its pet health insurance product isn’t yet available everywhere. As of September 2024, those in 37 states as well as the District of Columbia can purchase these policies.

Assuming you’re in an eligible state, you can begin the process of exploring coverage options by going to the Lemonade Pets site.

Next, when it comes to choosing a policy, you’ll have a few options that can impact your total premium

To get started with a quote, you’ll need to complete a questionnaire that begins with the basics such as the type of pet, their age, their Breed, and the Length of time you’ve had them.

Once you’ve submitted this information, you’ll be able to see your base coverage quote while also going through the additional coverage options. This base plan covers three main things: diagnostics, procedures, and medications. Outside of these main categories, Lemonade offers additional coverage selections including various Extended Accident & Illness options. There are also preventive packages and add-ons for Dental Illness, Behavioral Conditions, and End of Life and Remembrance.

Finally, you can further customize your coverage by adjusting your deductible, co-insurance percentage, and yearly maximum. Currently, from what i can see, deductibles range from $100 to $750, co-insurance options include 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90%, and yearly maxes start at $5,000 and go all the way up to 100,000.

For what it’s worth, we selected coverage a 90% co-insurance — meaning Lemonade pays 90% of covered expenses after deductible — with a $500 deductible and Annual Limit of $20,000. Currently, this policy costs us about $274 per year.

When selecting your policy, keep in mind that waiting periods will apply to different types of claims

Lest you think that you can buy a Lemonade policy and take your pet to the vet the same day, there are some waiting periods you’ll need to know about. For accidents, the waiting period is 2 days. Meanwhile, the waiting period for illnesses is 14 days and the waiting period for cruciate ligament events is 6 months. The good news is that these waiting periods only apply to your initial policy and not renewals, so you’ll be covered as long as you don’t cancel or let your policy lapse.

Something else to note about lemonade pet insurance is that there are a couple of discount opportunities

First, if you bundle with a Lemonade property insurance policy such as renters or home owners insurance, you can save 10% on pet health coverage. Those with multiple dogs or cats can also save 5% when covering more than one pet. Finally, if you pay for a full year of your policy upfront, you’ll save 5% versus the monthly cost.

Finally, after two years of having a policy, I recently got to see what the claims process is like for lemonade.

In July, I needed to take Rigby to an urgent care vet as she was uncharacteristically ill. After running tests and doing some x-rays, she sent home with some medicines to ease whatever was ailing her. When we did get home, I started the claims process in the Lemonade app.

This is basically all done through a chat bot interface that will ask you a few questions about your claim. In my experience, I was also asked to record a voice memo or video describing what happened. Then, I was able to enter the invoice details line by line - with the help of Lemonade’s autofill options. After attesting that everything I was saying was truthful, I was able to submit my claim — although Lemonade did also follow up with the vet’s office to obtain a few notes.
With my claim being submitted on a Friday, I got word of its approval 3 business days later on a Wednesday and the deposit to my bank account clear two days after that.

As for what I received from my claim, the $638 original bill meant $574.88 with the 90% coinsurance. However, since I’d selected the $500 deductible option, my payout was $74.88.

#Pets #petinsurance #fioneymoney