Understanding Pet Insurance Waiting Periods: What You Need to Know

Your dog starts acting strange on Sunday, so you buy pet insurance on Monday morning and head to the vet that afternoon. Will your pet insurance cover the visit? Not if there’s a waiting period before your coverage takes effect.

Pet insurance policies without a waiting period are rare, but there are some insurance plans that offer relatively short waiting periods. Learn how pet insurance waiting periods work and get ideas on paying for pet care before your waiting period ends.

What Are Your Options for No-Waiting-Period Pet Insurance?

With the exception of one carrier, all pet insurance policies currently on the market have waiting periods for at least some types of coverage. A waiting period is how long it takes after purchasing pet insurance for some or all of your coverage to kick in.

Pet insurance companies impose waiting periods to encourage pet owners to maintain a policy instead of buying one only when they need it. Without a waiting period, you could buy insurance after your pet was injured, visit the vet, get the insurance company to pay for expensive treatment and then cancel the insurance. If this were a common practice among pet owners, insurance carriers would likely have to charge prohibitively high premiums to continue offering coverage.

How Do Pet Insurance Waiting Periods Work?

A waiting period is the amount of time after your policy takes effect that you must wait before insurance covers your pet’s care. There are three basic types of pet insurance—accident coverage, illness coverage and wellness (or preventive care) coverage. Each type of coverage may have different waiting periods. For example, many insurers offer wellness coverage with no waiting period. However, there are typically waiting periods of a few days for pet accident insurance, a few weeks for illness insurance and six months for orthopedic conditions.

Some specific illnesses or injuries may have longer waiting periods. Waiting periods can also vary based on state laws regulating pet insurance. For example, Nationwide has a 12-month waiting period for cruciate rupture or meniscus damage in most states, but no waiting period for these conditions in others. In addition, most pet insurance doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions—medical problems that arose before or during your waiting period.

A waiting period is one factor to evaluate when buying pet insurance, but you shouldn’t purchase a policy based on a short waiting period alone. Deductibles, coinsurance amounts, exclusions, coverage caps and reimbursement rates are also important considerations. Will the policy cover the care your pet is likely to need, at a price that fits your budget?

Which Pet Insurance Companies Offer the Shortest Waiting Periods?

Companion Protect is the only pet insurer with no waiting period for accident or illness coverage. However, getting coverage requires a review of your pet’s medical records. Companion Protect insurance is only open to pets adopted from participating shelters.

Be advised that the waiting periods listed below may vary depending on your state. Pet owners in Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Washington benefit from laws that prohibit any waiting periods for pet accident insurance.

Waiting Period by Insurance Carrier

• Companion Protect: 0 days for accident and illness
• MetLife: 0 days for accident, 14 days for illness
• Embrace: 0 days for accident, 14 days for illness
• Figo: 1 day for accident, 14 days for illness
• AKC: 2 days for accident, 14 days for illness
• Lemonade: 2 days for accident, 14 days for illness
• Pet’s Best: 3 days for accident, 14 days for illness
• Trupanion: 5 days for accident, 30 days for illness
• ASPCA: 14 days for accident and illness
• Healthy Paws: 14 days for accident and illness
• Nationwide: 14 days for accident and illness
• Spot: 14 days for accident and illness
• Fetch: 15 days for accident and illness

Waiting periods for illness or orthopedic conditions not resulting from an accident are limited to 30 days. Insurers must also allow the 30-day waiting periods to be waived if the pet completes a medical examination paid for by the policyholder.

What if These Waiting Periods Aren’t Short Enough for You?

You shouldn’t wait for pet insurance to kick in to treat an urgent health need. Here are some other ways to pay for vital veterinary care:

Tap Your Emergency Fund

If you have savings set aside for unexpected expenses, now is the time to use it. Just be sure to commit to replenishing any money you withdraw. Keeping your emergency fund in a high-yield savings account can help it grow faster.

Use a Credit Card

Putting a big vet bill on your credit card could leave you with high-interest debt that may snowball over time. Avoid this risk by making a plan to pay off the balance—ideally, as soon as the bill comes due. If you can’t pay the balance in full, consider transferring the balance to a credit card with an introductory 0% annual percentage rate (APR). Pay off the balance before your promotional APR ends to avoid accruing interest charges.

Get a Personal Loan

Cancer treatments or major surgery for your beloved pet could cost $10,000 or more. A personal loan can provide the cash you need to finance Fluffy’s care. Personal loans typically have lower APRs than credit cards and are repaid in fixed monthly payments over a short time, such as 24 months.

Borrow from Friends or Family

To avoid putting your relationship at risk, only borrow from people who can afford to lend. Always draw up a loan contract and commit to paying the money back, preferably with interest.

The Bottom Line

Pet insurance can help you handle the high cost of veterinary care. It may not pay all your veterinary expenses, however, so it’s good to have backup options in place. Keeping your credit utilization low helps ensure you have enough available credit to handle an emergency expense. It may also help boost your credit score, which could help you qualify for lower-interest personal loans and introductory 0% APR credit card offers. Regularly checking your credit report and monitoring your credit score are healthy financial habits that will help you keep your furry friends healthy, too.

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