Geico Pet Insurance Review 2024
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About Geico pet insurance
Geico pet insurance earned 5 stars out of 5 for overall performance.
Geico sells pet insurance policies from a third-party company, Embrace. Its standard accident and illness plan is fairly comprehensive, with coverage for hereditary conditions, dental illnesses, behavioral therapies and complementary treatments. It’s also easy to customize, with a variety of deductibles and coverage limits to choose from. However, you’ll need to pay extra to get coverage for vet exam fees or prescription drugs.
You can also add wellness coverage to pay for a variety of routine expenses such as vaccinations, dental cleaning, spaying or neutering, and even grooming.
Embrace appears on NerdWallet’s list of The Best Pet Insurance Companies.
Geico pet insurance plans and coverage
Geico and Embrace offer three types of plans. All policies include access to the company’s 24/7 PawSupport service, which features “Pet Pros” who can answer questions about your pet’s health via phone, live chat or video conference.
Note: Coverage options and availability may vary depending on where you live and the age and breed of your pet.
Accident and illness plan
The default plan available to most pets covers treatment for accidental injuries as well as illnesses such as cancer. The plan covers:
Hospitalization, surgery and emergency care.
Congenital and hereditary conditions.
Dental illnesses up to $1,000 per year.
Complementary treatments such as acupuncture.
Diagnostic tests.
Behavioral therapies.
You can also choose to add coverage for prescription medications and exam fees.
Accident-only plan
The accident-only plan for senior pets covers incidents such as broken bones, ingested objects and animal bites. It also covers bloat, a life-threatening condition in which the stomach twists. However, this plan won’t pay to treat cancer, kidney disease or any other illness.
Wellness plan
The Embrace preventive care plan, Wellness Rewards, can reimburse you for:
Annual checkups.
Vaccinations or titers.
Flea, tick and heartworm preventives.
Dental cleaning.
Spay or neuter surgery.
Microchipping.
Blood or fecal tests.
Nutritional supplements and prescription food.
Alternative treatments.
Grooming, training and medicated shampoos.
Cremation or burial.
Routine gland expression.
You can select one of three annual coverage limits: $250, $450 or $650.
The wellness plans are designed to save you $25 over the course of a year. For example, the plan with a $250 limit costs $18.75 per month, or $225 annually. So as long as you spend (and get reimbursed for) more than $225 in covered services, you’ll get your money’s worth from the plan.
» MORE: What does pet insurance cover?
What’s not covered
The accident and illness plan from Geico and Embrace won’t cover:
Pre-existing conditions, except curable ones that have been symptom- and treatment-free for at least 12 months.
Breeding, whelping or pregnancy.
Cosmetic procedures such as tail docking or dew claw removal.
Preventive care (unless you add Wellness Rewards).
DNA testing or cloning.
Neglect, deliberate injury, or conditions stemming from fighting or racing.
Embrace also won’t cover certain bilateral conditions if they’ve affected either side of your pet’s body before your plan takes effect. Say your dog tore a cruciate ligament on her left side six months before you bought pet insurance. If she injured that ligament on her right side after you bought the policy, treatment wouldn’t be covered. (That’s because this type of injury is more likely to recur if it’s already happened once.)
Geico pet insurance plan options
Deductibles: A pet insurance deductible is the amount you have to pay before your plan reimburses you for vet expenses. For accident and illness coverage, you can generally choose a deductible ranging from $100 to $1,000 per year. The accident-only plan comes with a $100 deductible, while Wellness Rewards doesn’t have a deductible at all.
Reimbursement amounts: You can choose to have the accident and illness plan pay 70%, 80% or 90% of your vet bills once you’ve met your deductible. The accident-only plan reimburses 90%.
The way your insurer calculates claim payouts can affect how much reimbursement you get. Embrace subtracts the deductible from your vet bill before applying your reimbursement rate, which results in a more generous payout than doing it the other way around.
Imagine a scenario in which you have a $2,000 vet bill, 80% reimbursement rate and $500 deductible. Embrace would likely calculate your reimbursement as follows:
$2,000 vet bill - $500 deductible = $1,500.
$1,500 x 0.8 (80% reimbursement) = $1,200 claim payout.
That leaves you paying $800 of the vet bill.
Did you know…
Insurers that apply your reimbursement rate to your vet bill first would pay less for the same claim. Here’s the math:
$2,000 vet bill x 0.8 (80% reimbursement) = $1,600.
$1,600 - $500 deductible = $1,100 claim payout.
Coverage limits: For accident and illness coverage, you can typically choose an annual coverage limit between $5,000 and $15,000, or select the unlimited plan. The accident-only plan comes with a $5,000 annual limit. Wellness Rewards plans have limits of $250, $450 or $650.
» MORE: How to get pet insurance quotes
Restrictions and waiting periods
Age restrictions: Pets must be at least 6 weeks of age to enroll. You can sign them up for an accident and illness plan through age 14, after which they can get only accident coverage.
Waiting periods: A waiting period is the time between when you buy your policy and when your coverage starts. Embrace generally has waiting periods of two days for accidents, 14 days for illnesses and six months for canine orthopedic injuries. Embrace may reduce the orthopedic waiting period to 14 days if your vet examines your dog and verifies that there are no pre-existing orthopedic issues. Waiting periods may vary by state.
Geico pet insurance sample rates
The cost of Geico pet insurance from Embrace will depend on where you live, how much coverage you choose, and your pet’s age and breed.
To give you a rough idea of how much you might pay, we gathered quotes for several popular dog breeds at ages 2 and 8. Rates below are sample monthly premiums for dogs living in Katy, Texas. Our sample plan was for accident and illness coverage with a $250 deductible, $5,000 of annual coverage and an 80% reimbursement rate. Your own price will vary.
Breed | Age 2 | Age 8 |
|---|---|---|
French bulldog | $110 | $203 |
German shepherd | $71 | $132 |
Golden retriever | $71 | $132 |
Labrador retriever | $71 | $132 |
Medium mixed-breed dog | $44 | $80 |
Poodle | $89 | $165 |
We also gathered rates for a variety of cat breeds with the same coverage limits as above. Rates below are sample monthly premiums for cats living in Katy, Texas.
Breed | Age 2 | Age 8 |
|---|---|---|
Devon rex | $30 | $52 |
Domestic shorthair | $24 | $42 |
Maine coon | $30 | $52 |
Oriental longhair | $30 | $52 |
Persian | $30 | $52 |
Ragdoll | $30 | $52 |
In addition to these monthly rates, a one-time administrative fee may be applied when you first buy your policy. Embrace says this is to pay for things like gathering medical records and administering the 24/7 pet health line.
» MORE: The best cheap pet insurance
Discounts
Depending on where you live, you may be able to save on your policy by:
Being an active or retired member of the military.
Insuring more than one pet.
Filing less than $300 in claims per year.
Paying your full annual premium upfront rather than in monthly installments.
State availability
Geico pet insurance is available in Washington, D.C., and every state except Maine.
Availability may change at any time. Coverage may not be available to all pets in a given state.
Digital experience
The Geico website has some basic information about pet insurance, but you’ll have to visit the Embrace site to get a quote and learn more about the plans available. You can use the site to browse sample policies, FAQs and coverage information.
Both the website and Embrace mobile app offer various options for managing your policy, including submitting claims, adjusting coverage, adding a new pet and updating payment details.
How to file a claim with Geico
You can file a claim through your online account on the Embrace website or mobile app. Alternatively, you can submit a claim form by email, fax or physical mail. It generally takes about 10 to 15 business days to process claims, according to Embrace. You can track the status of your claim in your online account.
The quickest reimbursement option is direct deposit in your bank account, but you can also choose to receive a check in the mail.
» MORE: Is pet insurance worth it?
How to contact customer service
You can contact customer representatives at Embrace by calling 800-793-2003 Monday through Saturday.
Geico pet insurance vs. competitors
Here’s how Geico compares to several other popular pet insurers.
Company | NerdWallet star rating | Maximum coverage limit | Policy highlight |
|---|---|---|---|
Unlimited | Covers some pre-existing conditions. | ||
Unlimited | Mobile app has lots of useful features. | ||
Unlimited | May be able to pay your vet directly. | ||
$100,000 | Pays some claims within minutes. | ||
Unlimited | Covers dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and other pets. | ||
Unlimited | Unlimited annual coverage for all pets. |
How we review pet insurance
Our writers and editors follow strict editorial guidelines that ensure fairness and accuracy to help you choose the financial products that work best for you. In our pet insurance reviews, we consider coverage, discounts, financial strength ratings from AM Best and more to determine our star ratings.
In our evaluation, we:
Analyzed 2,100 data points.
Got 800+ quotes from pet insurers.
Compared 20+ companies.
Our rating system rewards companies that cover a wide range of potential expenses, offer many ways to customize your plan and have a strong financial rating. Within the consumer experience category, we looked at features such as mobile app ratings and whether the company offers direct vet payments. To calculate each insurer’s rating, we adjusted the scores to a curved 5-point scale.
Dive deeper with our criteria for evaluating pet insurance companies.
Methodology
Pet insurance star ratings
NerdWallet’s pet insurance ratings reward companies for customer-first features and practices. Ratings are based on weighted averages of scores in several categories, including financial strength, scope of coverage, the ability to customize your plan and more. Our “consumer experience” category looks at factors such as website transparency and mobile app ratings. To calculate each insurer’s star rating, we adjusted the scores to a curved 5-point scale. See our full pet insurance methodology.
These ratings are a guide, but we encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes to find the best rate for you. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
Pet insurance sample rates
To find sample pet insurance rates, NerdWallet gathered quotes for the base level of accident and illness coverage on each insurer’s website. Quotes reflect the monthly cost of a policy and do not include wellness coverage or other optional add-ons. Each plan for a given company had the same deductible, coverage limit and reimbursement rate for all sample pets.
These are sample rates gathered for specific pets living in Katy, Texas. Your own rates will be different.
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