Embrace Pet Insurance: Our Review

Welcome to our honest review of Embrace Pet Insurance.

Shopping for pet insurance can be overwhelming with so many insurance companies and different options to choose from.

One of the more well-known and quality plans is from Embrace Pet Insurance.

Embrace’s comprehensive plan covers accidents, illnesses, and related procedures with an optional wellness rewards plan covering routine and preventative procedures. 

In this blog post, we analyze Embrace’s costs, coverage, optional wellness plan, exclusions, key benefits, things to consider, and things to work on.

Just so you know, I may collect a small commission from the links below, but I only recommend products I find trustworthy.

How Does Pet Insurance Work?

Unlike most human health insurance, pet insurance is reimbursement-based.

In other words, pet owners pay the veterinary bill and then they submit a claim for reimbursement. As a result, this type of model allows pet parents to select the vet of their choice.

Most pet insurance plans have the following requirements:

• Deductibles
• Reimbursement percentages or copays
• Annual or per-incident maximums
• Waiting periods

Additionally, some companies, like Embrace, let you customize these requirements under your pet insurance policy.

For example, Embrace lets you choose the amount of your deductible, reimbursement percentage, and maximums (see the next section).

This lets you choose a plan within your chosen budget that fits your pet’s specific needs.

How Much Does It Cost?

For their accident and illness policy (without add-on wellness plan), you can expect to pay between $25-$50 per month for a dog and $15-$25 per month for a cat.  See potential discounts in the next section.

The cost for the accident and illness policy varies depending on your chosen deductible, annual maximum, and reimbursement percentage, plus your pet’s breed, age, location, and health condition.

For the optional wellness plan, they charge an additional $18.75/month for a $250 annual allowance, $35.42/month for a $450 annual allowance, and $52.09/month for a $650 annual allowance.

Deductible: You can choose an annual deductible of $200, $300, $500, $750 or $1,000, which is the amount that you are responsible for before reimbursement begins.

Annual maximum: You can choose $5,000, $8,000, $10,000, $15,000 or $30,000 as your annual maximum, which is the most that Embrace will reimburse after you meet your deductible.

Reimbursement percentage: They offer reimbursement percentages of 70%, 80% or 90%, which is the percentage of your vet bill that you will receive back after meeting your deductible.

With their unique Healthy Pet Deductible, your annual deductible gets reduced by $50 for every year that you don’t receive an accident or illness claim reimbursement. Keep in mind that the deductible does reset to its original amount once an accident or illness claim reimbursement is received.

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Does They Offer Any Discounts or Coupons?

Yes, Embrace does offer certain discounts on their plans.  Here is a list of their current discounts:

• Healthy Pet Deductible– Your pet’s annual deductible gets lowered by $50 each year when you don’t receive an accident or illness claim reimbursement.
• 10% Multiple Pet Discount– Get this discount when you insure 2 or more pets.
• 5% Military Discount (unavailable in NY, & TN)- If you are a current or former member of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Coast Guard, you can save 5%.
• 10% Employee Benefits Discount (unavailable in FL, NY, TN & ND; 5% discount in TN)- If your company offers Embrace Pet Insurance as a voluntary benefit, you could be eligible for a discount.

What Does Embrace Pet Insurance Cover?

Generally speaking, most pet insurance plans cover:

• Treatment for accidents, illnesses, & diseases
• Surgery, hospitalization, & technician care
• Diagnostic testing & imaging (X-rays, MRIs, etc.)

According to their website, Embrace Pet Insurance covers those items above and more, which include: 

• Accidents & illnesses
• Surgery, hospitalization, & nursing care
• Exam and consultation fees
• Breed-specific conditions
• Chronic conditions
• Diagnostic testing & imaging
• Prescription drugs (Optional in New York)
• ER & specialist care
• Cancer treatment
• Dental illness up to $1,000/year
• Behavioral therapy
• Alternative therapies & rehabilitation
• Prosthetic limbs, devices, & mobility aids

The Rewards Plan and Coverage

Oftentimes, routine pet care is excluded from pet insurance.

However, pet parents with Embrace have the option of signing up for their Wellness Rewards program for an additional fee.

This means that a pet owner can get reimbursed 100% of their pet’s routine care costs up to their chosen selected amount of coverage.

A pet owner can select reimbursement amounts of $250, $450 or $650 per policy year for this program, which costs $18.75/month, $35.42/month, and $52.09/month respectively.

The wellness plan can be used for the following items:

Wellness Rewards Plan Coverage

Embrace Pet Insurance Exclusions

All pet insurance plans have exclusions – things they will not cover. Embrace Pet Insurance is very transparent about what they do not cover.

These items include:

• Routine Veterinary care (unless you choose their Wellness Rewards Plan)
• Pre-existing conditions (see below)
• Breeding, whelping, and pregnancy
• Injury caused deliberately by you or any other person residing in your home
• Injury or illness resulting from fighting, racing, cruelty, or neglect
• Cosmetic procedures such as tail docking, ear cropping, and dew claw removal unless medically necessary
• DNA testing or cloning
• Injury or illness resulting from fighting, racing, cruelty, or neglect
• Cosmetic procedures such as tail docking, ear cropping, and dewclaw removal unless medically necessary
• Stem cell therapy not deemed medically necessary
• Avian flu or nuclear war

Are All Pre-existing Conditions Not Covered?

Embrace Pet Insurance distinguishes between curable and incurable pre-existing conditions. Their plan does cover curable conditions if pets remain symptom-free and treatment-free for 12 consecutive months.

Examples of incurable conditions include things like diabetes and allergies. Curable conditions include things like undiagnosed vomiting or diarrhea and ear infections.

Note: Under their plan, a pre-existing condition is defined as:

• A chronic condition observed before the end of the waiting period for pet(s) and any related conditions; or
• An illness or injury that first occurred or showed clinical signs before the end of the waiting period for a pet and any related conditions.
• Undiagnosed conditions with the same clinical signs as those above are also considered pre-existing.

Is Hip Dysplasia Covered?

Embrace Pet Insurance will cover hip dysplasia, as long as the 6-month insurance policy waiting period has passed or they received a completed orthopedic waiver reducing this waiting period to 14 days.

This is a good benefit since many dogs may require a bilateral hip replacement as they age. This surgery can cost anywhere from $7,000 to $12,000.

Additionally, a dog that undergoes hip dysplasia surgery will require pain medications, etc., which means pet parents incur additional costs. Read more about analyzing dog insurance – is it worth it?

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Benefits of Them

Here are some important benefits of their plan that make them stand out above competitors:

• Embrace’s coverage is locked in for the life of your pet and they will not drop coverage at a certain age.
• Their plan is underwritten by American Modern Insurance Group.  They have an A+ rating from A.M. Best Company.
• Embrace has a Better Business Bureau rating of A+.
• Embrace offers a Medical History Review during enrollment. Essentially, this is a full insurance assessment of your pet’s health history, so you can feel confident in the coverage provided and any exclusions.
• Claims are allowed to be submitted up to 60 days after renewal of the next term.
• 95% of claims are processed within 5 business days and 40% within 2 business days. Then, they reimburse claims within 24 hours of processing if setup to receive payment via ACH.
• Embrace follows a “deductible then copay” reimbursement model instead of a “copay then deductible” model (like many other companies), which may mean more money in your pocket.
• Prescription coverage for take-home drugs is available with all policies.
• It is easy to submit claims via fax, email, app, website upload or through mail.
• Reimbursement takes place through check or direct deposit.
• They offer a 30-day free look period (similar to a money-back guarantee).
• Your pet’s annual deductible goes down by $50 each year when there isn’t a claim reimbursement (called ‘Healthy Pet Deductible’).
• Their 24/7 PawSupport Pet Health Line lets you speak with a pet professional anytime via live chat, video, and phone.

Requirements and Considerations

•  A licensed vet needs to have seen your pet in the past 12 months and you will need access to their records. Otherwise, you will need to visit your vet within the first 14 days of your pet’s policy before coverage begins. 
• Their policies require a 14-day waiting period for illnesses, 48 hours for accidents, and a 6 month waiting period for orthopedic conditions for dogs.  The waiting period for orthopedic conditions can be reduced to 14 days if you follow their Orthopedic Exam and Waiver Process.
• Your pet must be 14 years old or younger to obtain the full accident and illness insurance policy. For pets 15 years and older, you can only obtain accident-only insurance coverage.

Things To Work On

Every pet policy could be improved. With Embrace Pet Insurance, we recommend they work on:

• Reducing their $1.00 monthly transaction fee and $25 enrollment fee.
• Removing or lessening their waiting periods until coverage kicks in.
• Expanding coverage to include pets 15 years of age and older for their full accident and illness plan.
• Offering unlimited claims options.

The Final Verdict

In conclusion, Embrace Pet Insurance is a very good plan that benefits pets and their owners.

We appreciate the level of information, transparency, and optional wellness plan.

Owners have flexibility to choose certain options that suit their needs and budget.

Monthly premiums vary, so it’s best to obtain an individual quote for your pet.

Hopefully you find this review helpful. Let me know what questions you have about pet insurance – just leave a comment below.

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