Pumpkin Pet Insurance Review - Affordable Health Insurance Plans for Dogs and Cats

Overall Ranking

4.5/5

Overview

Coverage Level

4/5

Ease of Sign Up

5/5

Policy Options

4.5/5

Premiums

3.5/5

Pumpkin Pet Insurance provides affordable health insurance plans for dogs and cats. Should you get your furry friend signed up?

Kevin Mercadante

Editor's Note

You can trust the integrity of our balanced, independent financial advice. We may, however, receive compensation from the issuers of some products mentioned in this article. Opinions are the author's alone. This content has not been provided by, reviewed, approved or endorsed by any advertiser, unless otherwise noted below.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance may be the new pet insurance agency on the block, only having been launched in the spring of 2020. But they’re coming on strong, even offering a preventative care package.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance offers health insurance plans for dogs and cats. Their plans provide extensive coverage options. This includes a holistic approach to pet insurance, with preventive care that helps keep your pet healthy year-round. You can use any licensed veterinarian or facility in the U.S. or Canada, without concern for working with preferred providers, giving you complete control over your pet’s healthcare needs.

About Pumpkin Pet Insurance

Pumpkin Pet Insurance is based in New York City, and was officially launched on April 30, 2020. The timing isn’t accidental either. Animal pharmaceutical maker Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) launched the new Insurance agency in the middle of a spike in pet adoptions due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is worth noting that Zoetis is the world’s largest global animal health company, so the move into providing pet insurance is an entirely natural one.

The company is looking to “help you give your pet the best health care possible” by coupling its pet insurance with a preventive care plan that puts pets first.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance is dedicated to providing best-in-class health insurance for your pet. The company is a team of engineers, product managers, marketers, data nerds, designers and customer service gurus who will “love and live for our pets – and yours.”

The company works with five guiding principles:

• Pets Come First: Put what’s best for pets at the center of everything you do
• Trust the Pack: Help families make empowered pet care decisions
• Jump Fences: If there’s a will, there’s always a way over them
• Share Toys: Be generous with your gifts and amazing things will happen
• Dig New Holes: Challenge conventions to create the future of pet health care

The principles make obvious references to pet behavior, but they work to create a serious focus on the company’s business of providing health insurance for pets.

How Pumpkin Pet Insurance Works

When you have coverage through Pumpkin Pet Insurance you can bring your covered pet to any licensed veterinarian in the United States or Canada. You’ll pay the required fees and charges directly to the care provider, then log into your account to file a claim for eligible expenses. That will include uploading a copy of your itemized bill. The process is designed to be 100% digital.

You will also have the option to have the payment sent directly to your pet’s care provider if the practice will accept direct insurance payments.

Like most pet insurance policies, there is no network of providers. You can use any veterinarian of your choice, as well as specialists, emergency clinics, or hospitals.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance for Dogs and Puppies

Pumpkin’s website provides that their health insurance for dogs covers the following:

The maximum annual coverage limit for dogs is a choice of $10,000 or $20,000. The reason for this limit is data that shows less than 1% of insured dog owners filed more than that in a year.* Pumpkin considers this “smart” amount of coverage, removing some confusion for pet owners who need to guesstimate their annual limit needs.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance for Cats and Kittens

Pumpkin Pet Insurance for cats covers similar medical events but the maximum annual coverage limit is a choice of $7,000 or $15,000. Once again, data shows fewer than 1% insured cat owners file claims exceeding that amount on an annual basis.*

Preventative Essentials

Pumpkin Pet Insurance offers optional wellness treatment coverage for your dog or cat, which they call Preventative Essentials.

Those treatments include the following:

• 100% coverage for annual wellness exam for when your pet goes in for their yearly check-up
• 100% coverage for annual screening tests, including key lab tests to screen for major issues – for dogs this includes fecal exams and vector born diseases or a heartworm test; for cats this includes a fecal exam
• 100% coverage for annual vaccines, which includes any two shots for your dog, or one shot for your cat

There’s also a Preventative Pack for puppies under six months old. It includes a full refund for any four vaccines received before or after enrolling in Pumpkin. You’ll also receive a full refund for an annual wellness exam and for an annual fecal test.

Product Features

Availability: Pumpkin Pet Insurance is currently available in all states.

Pet age limitations: No upper age limit, just an 8-week minimum age. Otherwise, you can apply for coverage for your pet at any age (some companies don’t accept pets over a certain age, typically 12 or 13).

Pet breed limitations: None.

Policy exclusions: Pumpkin Pet Insurance makes it easy to see what isn’t covered. You can get a sample plan and look at the exclusions by visiting www.pumpkin.care/sample-plan

Mobile App: Pumpkin Pet Insurance doesn’t currently have a mobile app, but the website is 100% mobile optimized and accessible from your desktop, tablet or smartphone.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance Premiums

As is the case with all insurance policies, the premium you will pay for coverage will depend on several factors. Those include the size, breed, sex, and age of your pet. Your zip code is also a factor.

I entered information for Sophie, a female mixed breed, under 50 pounds, five years old, and residing in metropolitan Atlanta (30305 zip code).

I was then given the choice to select a deductible – $100, $250, or $500 – as well as the option to add the Preventative Essentials Pack to the plan. With a $250 deductible, and including the preventative option, the monthly premium is $84.23. That comes to just over $1,000 per year.

Next, I ran a scenario on a cat named Pandora. She’s a medium-sized mixed breed five-year-old, also living in metropolitan Atlanta.

As is usually the case with pet insurance, coverage for a cat is considerably less expensive. Deductibles, once again, are $100, $250, and $500. Including the Preventative Essentials Pack, the premium came to $46.62 per month, or just about $560 per year.

How to Sign Up

You can sign up for coverage online, just by completing a series of simple input screens. You’ll start by entering your pet’s name and indicating whether it’s a cat or a dog.

On the next screen, you’ll indicate if your pet is a boy or girl, the breed, weight, and age.

You’ll also be asked questions about your pet’s general health condition. Then, you’ll also be asked to describe your pet’s basic lifestyle.

Finally, you’ll enter your personal information. This will include your first and last name, your email address, and your home ZIP Code.

When you click “Next”, you’ll receive your health insurance quote, examples of which were provided in the previous section for both a dog and a cat.

Once you sign up for a policy, you’ll be required to put an active debit or credit card on file to pay the monthly premiums.

The website informs you that your Pumpkin Pet Insurance coverage will start 14 days after your policy’s effective date, which is the day after you purchase your plan online. The 14-day delay represents a waiting period, presumably to eliminate applicants who may be getting coverage for a recent illness or injury. The waiting period is common to pet health insurance policies. Unlike the insurance plan however, the Preventive Care Essentials plan does not have a waiting period. You can file these preventative claims as soon as you sign up for Pumpkin with no waiting periods required.

Customer Service & Support

Pumpkin Pet Insurance is available by phone and by email, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm Eastern Time. They do disclose that email inquiries will be responded to in one day or less.

Pumpkin Pet Insurance Pros and Cons

Pumpkin Pet Insurance Alternatives

Fortunately for consumers, the list of pet insurance providers is growing. If, for any reason, you’d like to consider an alternative to Pumpkin Pet Insurance, you do have options.

Embrace is one of the more popular health insurance providers for pets. You can also use any licensed veterinarian of your choice, and they provide what they refer to as Nose-to-tail Pet Insurance Coverage. They not only cover accidents and illness but do so with no per-condition limits. And they do offer dental coverage of up to $1,000 per year. The pre-existing condition limit is more strict than with Pumpkin Pet Insurance. The waiting period is 12 months, compared to six months for Pumpkin. But you can select a reimbursement level of 70%, 80%, or 90%, with deductibles ranging from $100 to $1,000.

Read more: Embrace pet insurance review

Lemonade is a fairly new option in the pet insurance market, having debuted only in 2020, but they’re already proving to be as innovative as they were for the homeowner and renters insurance market. They cover accidents and illness, plus offer additional add-ons that include wellness and preventative, and physical therapy plans. Lemonade has some of the highest annual limits in the market providing up to $100,000 worth of coverage. Claims are usually paid out in only a few minutes, thanks to their AI-powered insurance claim system.

Read more: Lemonade Pet Insurance Review

Trupanion is another popular pet insurance provider. One of the biggest advantages they offer is that they do provide direct payment to the veterinarian. For this reason, many vets and hospitals are working with Trupanion. They offer 90% reimbursement on all covered expenses, with deductibles ranging from $0 to $1,000. However, the deductible is payable upon each diagnosed condition, opening the possibility of paying the deductible several times during the year.

Pets Best is perhaps the go-to insurance for flexible plans. For example, while you can get a plan for accidents and illness, you can also choose an accident-only policy if you’re looking to save money. They also offer a separate plan for routine coverage, much the same way Pumpkin Pet Insurance does. As a result of the variations they offer, their premiums tend to be lower than other carriers. But you should be aware that they do not cover some basic pet issues, like parasite-related conditions and certain preventative procedures.

Read More: Best Pet Insurance Companies

Is Pumpkin Pet Insurance the Right Pet Insurance for You?

When it comes to pet insurance, the most basic issue is deciding if you will have it at all. Admittedly, the majority of people don’t. But if you truly love your pet and consider him or her to be part of your family, having health insurance will give you options when you’re facing the most difficult illnesses or accidents. Absent those options, you may be forced to make a difficult choice based on your financial circumstances. A good pet health insurance plan will enable you to avoid having to make that choice.

But if you decide you want to purchase pet health insurance, Pumpkin Pet Insurance is one of the better choices available.

Related:

• The Hidden Costs of Exotic Pets

Summary

Healthcare has become more expensive across the board. That not only applies to health care and health insurance for people, but also for pets. After all, the technology for both is advancing at a rapid rate. But as it does, the cost also rises. It has become increasingly necessary to have health insurance to meet those costs.

Check out the coverage options under Pumpkin Pet Insurance’s Pet Insurance Fit for the Whole Fur Family.

* Based on United States Fire Insurance Company data, August 2019.

The data shows less than 1% of insured dog parents typically submit claims totaling over $10,000 in a policy year and less than 1% of insured cat parents typically submit claims totaling over $7,000 in a policy year.

* Pumpkin insurance covers prescription food to treat an eligible accident or illness. It does not cover prescription food used for weight management or general health maintenance.