Choosing the Best Pet Insurance in Australia: How, What and Why

Wondering how to choose the best pet insurance in Australia? Like most choices, it begins with knowing your needs. Or in the case of pet plans, knowing your cat or dog’s needs.

But how you might say? You’ve yet to know what accidents might happen. Or what illnesses could strike?

While that’s entirely true, you can use solid data to drive your decision. That’s data like insurance providers’ offerings, your budget, your pet’s breed and common pet health considerations. How do you work magic with these stats? Let’s dig in to find out.

How to choose the best pet insurance in Australia?

Pet plans can be filled with technical jargon. This can be confusing for the best of us. So how do you go about choosing the best pet insurance to match your pet and your pocket in Australia?

Ideally you begin by checking out the pet insurance landscape.

Which insurance providers are having customers say good things about them? That’s good things in terms of fees, communication and of course, claims.

Which insurance providers speak directly to you? By this we mean easy to understand, clear and sensible?

Narrow it down

Once you’ve taken a look you’ll probably be able narrow it down to a few – let’s say two or three.

Now you can drill down your findings further. So what do you need for this?

To make the right choice, there are a few facts you’ll need to look at. Namely, your pet’s health profile and the profile of insurance providers – as in what they offer and how they go about communicating this.

The best pet insurance is also a personal choice because in an ideal situation, once you’ve signed up you won’t ever want to switch providers. In other words, if you’re browsing lots of insurance websites and there’s one that clearly tells you what you need to know, you’re likely on the right course.

Let’s begin by looking at the pet plans themselves – what type of information should you keep an eye on. From there you can look at what your fur baby needs to unlock the best choice for you.

Fetch the reimbursement rates

When it comes to choosing the best pet insurance for you in Australia, reimbursement rates are like your pet’s favourite toy. In other words they should be impressive! Check how much the insurer will reimburse you for vet expenses in any claims cycle.

Some plans offer a flat percentage, while others have a benefit schedule based on a specific fee structure. You can check out more on PD Insurance’s three plans further down and under our dog insurance and cat insurance to see what annual defined limits we offer.

Choosing an option that’s the best for you in terms of pet insurance is based on your finances, now and in the foreseeable future.

While a percent could look good in terms of what you pay towards your premium, for example, it means you pay the balance when you claim. Even if you’re left paying 10% of a bill, this could vary wildly depending on whether it’s a $200 or $10,000 bill.

Work out what suits you best in terms of what an insurer will pay towards a claim and what you pay each month. After all, your pet deserves top-notch care without breaking the bank. The best pet insurance in Australia is there to protect your bank account.

Stake your claim

The best pet insurance in Australia should also afford you a quick claims turnaround. If you’ve got vet fees up the wazoo, the last thing you want is to be sitting out of pocket when you have other expenses to cover.

Claims should not only be quick but also painless in terms of what’s needed to make one. Do you need to file piles of paperwork? Can you submit online, on the phone, in person, or?

Ideally, you’re going to want to be able to submit online at anytime that suits you.

Unleash the waiting periods

Waiting periods in pet insurance can be as frustrating as trying to teach your cat to come when called. They’re the time you have to wait before certain coverage kicks in.

Why are there waiting periods? Insurance providers take on the risk of vet bills. They need to ensure that this support structure isn’t misused. For example, if someone knows their pet needs expensive treatment but signs up for a pet plan without disclosing this with a plan to claim right away.

The waiting periods are in place to make sure pet insurance works for everybody. It’s good for as many Aussie pets to have this type of medical protection as possible.

Make sure you review the waiting periods for accidents, illnesses, and pre-existing conditions so you know what to expect. If your pet has been insured for 12 months with another insurance provider and you switch to PD Insurance, we’ll waive any waiting periods.

You can check out PD Insurance waiting periods under our product disclosure statements.

Tailor-made for your budget

Your pet’s health shouldn’t break the bank but neither should their insurance. Consider your budget and find a plan with premiums that won’t leave you begging for treats.

Look for policies that offer flexible payment options, discounts for insuring multiple pets, and the ability to customise cover to fit your needs. When you’re shopping for pet plans, know that PD offers a month-to-month payment model and no lock-in contracts to give you optimum flexibility.

Happily you can expect the best pet insurance in Australia to be within your budget. In other words, it should be relatively affordable and can cost as little as around a dollar a day.

Read our article that answers ‘How expensive is pet insurance?’ to find out more about costs.

Choose the best level of pet insurance cover

Often, pet insurance providers offer more than one level of cover. This is to allow wider access to pet insurance so more people can choose their best pet insurance plans based on what they can comfortably afford.

PD Insurance offers three levels of cat and dog insurance cover in our award winning pet insurance:

Accident cover

At the most basic level of cover, all three cover pets for accidents. This means that a broad range of unexpected nasties are claimable under these pet plans.

Classic cover

As you go up the ranks onto the next tier of coverage you’re not going to pay much more, but your pet also gets cover for illness and hereditary conditions (the latter being genetic and often breed specific as we mentioned earlier).

Deluxe cover

Switch up even more and you still won’t be pushing the dollar bar much higher. But you now also get a broad range of dental cover which as anyone who’s ever been to the dentist knows, can cost a pretty penny.

Best pet insurance in Australia for individual pets

As you browse these three levels of cover, keep in mind that your pet won’t be covered for illnesses or health conditions they already have. There’s no cat or dog insurance for pre-existing conditions.

This is just one reason that it’s important to choose the best pet insurance in Australia when you first get your pet. The younger they are, the more likely the healthier they’ll be. If they become sick after your pet plans are bought, then they have the chance of being covered.

There are a couple of key aspects to unlocking the best pet insurance option in Australia, based on your pet. These are breed and common pet health concerns.

You can tell a lot about your needs based on these two aspects. You’ve got a good idea of what to look for in pet plans and now you can apply this to your pet’s individual needs.

What breed is your pet?

Purebred dogs are known to have around 600 genetic diseases. Purebred cats have around 250. That doesn’t mean you should panic. It certainly doesn’t mean your Poodle will get hip dysplasia nor does it mean your Ragdoll is guaranteed to get periodontal disease.

It just means you have a lot of information at your disposal about vulnerabilities they are likelier to have, based on their breed.

The breed your pet is makes a big difference to what safeguards you put in place. If your pet is prone to some health conditions that rack up big vet bills, this can help you choose from pet plans that cater to these conditions.

For example, the best pet insurance cover in Australia for your pet could be one that offers pet dental insurance.

What common pet dangers should you be aware of?

While you can’t predict what dangers lie ahead, by reading common claims for other Aussie pets you can get a good grasp of what the odds are. From dogs having intestinal obstructions from swallowing beach sand on their Frisbee to cats getting abscesses after fights over girls and territory.

The options of pickles, cuts and scrapes that pets can get into is literally limitless. As you can see, it’s not just about cat and dog health conditions by breed because accidents can happen anytime.

Some of the commonplace conditions that can affect cats and dogs include (but are not limited to):

• Skin, ear infections and eye infections
• Cat and dog allergies are common just like human allergies
• Injuries. from falls, scrapes, car accidents and more
• Accidental ingestion, which is especially common in dogs
• Gastro (read ‘Why is my dog vomiting?’)
• Dog bites and cat bites
• Conjunctivitis can be allergic, viral or bacterial
• Abscesses can develop from bites and wounds or oral infections (read how to treat tooth abscesses)
• Parvovirus which can be vaccinated against, along with many other viral infections

These are some examples but they certainly aren’t the only ones. Costs to treat issues like these can range from tens to hundreds and even thousands of dollars. It’s worth knowing that while vet bills may appear expensive, unlike human medical care, these costs aren’t subsidised.

This is why part of choosing the best pet insurance in Australia for your pet is also about selecting the appropriate level of cover.

Insurance for the unexpected

Choosing the best pet insurance will leave you feeling satisfied you’ve done the best for your pet. It’s like having a super soft landing under your fur baby wherever they go and whatever they’re doing.

With PD Insurance you also get your first month free. That means you can put your attention where you need to – on your pet and not on worrying about the unexpected and unknown.

Having the best pet insurance for your pet’s needs ultimately comes down to not having to make a head-over-heart decision on pet medical care. It means saying ‘yes’ to vet treatments your pet needs, rather than scrolling through your bank balance trying to make ends meet.

If you’re with another pet insurer but want to make the leap, know that PD Insurance will contribute to any switching fees they charge you.

Don’t wait for your cat or dog to have aches and pains or a rainy day. Click below and start your pet insurance quote today.