CNBC Insurance Pro: Am I getting a good deal on pet insurance?

Welcome to CNBC Select’s Insurance Pro column. Every other week, I answer your policy and coverage questions, from home and auto to life insurance. If you have a question you’d like answered, you can submit it here.

Getting pet insurance can be a good way to ensure you’ll afford unexpected health expenses for your cat or dog.

As veterinary care prices have increased over the past few years — costs have risen 44% between 2025 and 2019, according to data from the telehealth veterinary portal Dutch — having coverage is more necessary than ever.

However, it comes at a cost: The average dog owner pays about $836 per year for a standard accident and illness policy, or $69.66 monthly, according to the National Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA). The average cat owner pays $435 per year for a comparable policy, or $36.25 monthly.

For many, that’s no small expense, especially when you consider that prices usually increase each year at renewal. So, the amount you pay in your first year typically isn’t locked in for the life of your pet.

There are a few ways to figure out what’s worth it for this kind of coverage. In Claire’s instance, she’s already gotten a pretty good start since it sounds like she shopped around — tools like Petted are excellent at gathering options you can compare side-by-side.

To answer your question about whether the plan you got is worth it, we can look at a bit of math, your finances and personal comfort.

Your pet insurance cost, at least right now, is less than the national average. Over the course of a year, you’ll pay $583.56 for coverage. At most, your 80% reimbursement rate means that you’ll get that much of your bills covered, so you’d pay a 20% co-insurance payment, essentially. Then, you’d be reimbursed for up to $5,000 per year of eligible expenses. Coverage is typically limited to unexpected accidents and illnesses — you’d need a wellness policy add-on to cover things like routine vaccines, testing and exams.

While your annual reimbursement limit is a bit lower than what some other pet owners may have — unlimited annual reimbursements aren’t uncommon and are offered by companies like Trupanion and Pumpkin — it also keeps your premiums lower.

But let’s look at a few examples. For starters, a simple but common dog illness: an ear infection. Let’s assume that your basic exam fee, which is charged every time you visit the clinic, is covered by your policy. (Note that some policies exclude exam fees.) That costs $79 in New Jersey for a dog, according to data from health financing company CareCredit. Then, you’ll spend about $154 on diagnostics and treatments. That’s a total of $231.

In your case, you’d get $184.80 back in a refund. If that’s the only claim you make all year, you paid $583.56 in premiums for a refund of less than $200.

Now, let’s look at another example: an emergency vet visit. Let’s assume that your pet has to go to the dreaded emergency vet clinic instead of your normal practice. An emergency exam costs an average of $135, while a hospitalization costs $1,323, according to CareCredit. That’s a total of $1,458.

You’d receive a check for $1,166.40 afterward. In this instance, your pet insurance has paid for itself.

And, this example points out what pet insurance really excels at — covering big, unexpected expenses.

Consider also that, like getting a pet, this is a multi-year commitment. Some years you may not use your insurance much, and some years you might file many claims. It will largely depend on your pet’s health.

That leads us to another factor to consider: Your pet’s health record. You’ve said your dog is relatively healthy, which is amazing. However, the circumstances would be different if your pet had significant health issues already.

I’ll use my own pets as an example. I had two cats up until 2024, and I didn’t insure either of them. The reason? Their health histories.

Both came to my household later in life, and both had health issues. Before you buy pet insurance, know that conditions your pet had before you enroll won’t be covered.

These days, there’s one brand that’s an exception to this rule, AKC Pet Insurance, but it only covers conditions after a year of continuous coverage.

For my cats, I knew that treatments and costs related to the conditions they had wouldn’t be covered. Since those costs would be a large percentage of the vet bills I’d incur, getting pet insurance didn’t feel worth it.

Instead, I decided to self-insure them. I created a separate account and built up some savings. I set up a recurring $25 deposit every other week into my Betterment Cash Reserve high-yield savings account — one of my favorites, since it allows me to subdivide my goals and make seamless automated deposits.

While that doesn’t sound like much, it’s added up over time. I simply took out funds when I needed to pay for care. I also made extra deposits when I had surplus funds to save.

The fund has ebbed and flowed over the years — I’ve been doing this since 2019 — but there’s no paperwork involved or denials based on their histories. After my cats both died, I held onto the savings and now use them for my new dog. It’s helped me cover several ear infections in our three years together.

Of course, the shortfall with my plan would be the big catastrophes. I don’t think my pet savings fund alone would cover a full emergency bill for my golden retriever, but I could dip into my larger emergency fund if needed.

But if that $1,500 bill would leave you with any amount of uncertainty, you should get pet insurance. That’s especially true if you’d take on credit card debt — which can sometimes have high, snowballing interest rates — to pay the bill. Ultimately, getting pet insurance is worth it in this situation.