Best Pet Insurance in Florida – MarketWatch

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Across the Sunshine State, pet owners are looking for the best way to keep their pets healthy and protected in an emergency. Pet insurance can provide a buffer against the cost of both unexpected events and preventive care, and it can be a smart investment if your furry friend is eligible.
The emerging world of pet insurance is full of options, and we at the Home Media reviews team have spent hundreds of hours researching top providers’ plans, price points, benefits and coverage. We also surveyed a thousand pet owners and examined hundreds of third-party reviews on each provider to understand consumer concerns. Now, we’ve identified the top pet insurance companies in Florida to keep your four-legged family members healthy.
 
Here are the top pet insurance providers available to pet parents in Florida:
 
Coverage and cost: Spot is an excellent choice for shoppers to customize their pet insurance policy. The options for policyholders include accident-only and accident-and-illness plans, wellness add-ons and seven coverage caps ranging from $2,500 to unlimited. The provider also pays for microchipping, diagnostic tests and treatments for injuries, exam fees and behavioral treatments.
Preventive care policies with Spot include its Gold and Platinum plans. Gold offers up to $250 per year of per-treatment limits for items such as fecal testing, vaccinations, heartworm tests and dental cleanings, while Platinum provides up to $450 for these preventive services per year.
Elective or cosmetic veterinary services, issues from pregnancy and breeding and preexisting conditions are exclusions in Spot policies.
For an idea of pricing on Spot’s accident-and-illness plans, we’ve included the average range of sample quotes we obtained. All quotes were for mixed-breed dogs and cats between 1 and 9 years of age with a $5,000 annual coverage limit, a $250 deductible and an 80% reimbursement rate:
Get a quote: Visit Spot’s website for a streamlined pet insurance quote process with an adjustable coverage cap tool.
To learn more: Spot Pet Insurance review
 
 
Coverage and cost: Embrace offers one straightforward pet insurance plan to cover both accidents and illnesses. The plan covers allergies, dental care, exam fees, emergency care and alternative treatments.
One standout feature that Embrace offers is its comprehensive wellness plan, which covers 100% of the costs for preventive and routine care. This means that Embrace pays the bills for your pet’s wellness and scheduled visits up to the specified limit, rather than reimbursing the pet parent at a specific rate of the total cost.
Some routine treatments covered include vaccinations, wellness examinations, dental cleanings and even microchipping. The optional Wellness Rewards plan is available at three different tiers: up to $250, $450 or $650 of coverage for wellness expenses not including accidents and illnesses. Embrace excludes preexisting conditions, organ transplants, cosmetic procedures and issues due to breeding or pregnancy.
We received the following quotes while secret-shopping Embrace policies for mixed-breed dogs and cats between 1 and 9 years of age living in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. These quotes are for a policy with a $300 deductible, an 80% reimbursement rate and a $5,000 coverage limit.
Get a quote: Use Embrace’s quick online form to get your Florida pet’s rate.
To learn more: Embrace pet insurance review
 
 
Coverage and cost: Healthy Paws’ standard policies have unlimited annual, per-incident and lifetime coverage, preventing pet owners from paying out of pocket for veterinary services or reaching a limit for their pet’s coverage. The provider offers one plan covering accidents and illnesses such as hereditary conditions, chronic conditions, hospitalization, diagnostics and cancer.
The insurer doesn’t offer preventive pet health care add-ons to cover routine care, and its policies exclude coverage for spay or neutering procedures, exam fees or behavioral treatments. Healthy Paws also does not cover hip dysplasia until after the first 12 months.
Healthy Paws may not be the best choice for older pets, as fluffy friends aged 6 or older have limited customization options on this policy, often receiving fixed reimbursement percentages and deductibles. Despite some limitations, here are the average prices for mixed-breed cats and dogs in Fort Lauderdale with a $200 deductible and 80% reimbursement rate, when available:
Get a quote: Healthy Paws offers a free quote tool.
To learn more: Healthy Paws Pet Insurance review
 
 
Coverage and cost: ASPCA Pet Health Insurance provides two plan options: Accident-Only Coverage and Complete Coverage. As the name suggests, Accident-Only Coverage takes care of expenses from unexpected events such as cuts, broken bones and torn ligaments. Complete Coverage includes more potential costs, such as treatment and diagnostic measures for cancer, allergies, arthritis and digestive issues.
Beyond accidents and illnesses, ASPCA Pet Health Insurance provides an option to purchase a preventive care add-on to assist with routine costs such as heartworm tests, fecal tests, dental cleanings and dewormings. The Basic plan includes up to $250 per year for these routine care costs, while the Prime plan increases that annual coverage limit to $450.
While secret-shopping the company, we requested quotes for Complete Coverage policies with a $250 deductible, $5,000 coverage cap and 80% reimbursement rate for mixed-breed dogs and cats between 1 and 9 years old. The sample averages we received were these:
Get a quote: To find your pet’s personalized rate, request a quote online from ASPCA Pet Health Insurance.
To learn more: ASPCA pet insurance review
 
 
Coverage and cost: Prudent Pet gives pet owners three levels of coverage to fit their needs. The Accident-Only plan covers emergencies up to $10,000 for costs such as treatments for bite wounds, hospitalization and prescription medications. The Essential plan covers accidents and illnesses up to $10,000, building on Accident-Only coverage by including costs for digestive illness, hip dysplasia, hereditary conditions and swallowed objects. 
Prudent Pet’s Ultimate plan includes everything in its Essential plan, as well as a few extras like $1,000 of behavioral treatment coverage, boarding fees for pets if you’re hospitalized for more than four days, pet loss due to theft or stray and more.
In addition to its three available plans, Prudent Pet also offers coverage for veterinary exam fees at an extra cost. All three plans in Prudent Pet’s portfolio exclude herbal therapies, preexisting conditions and cosmetic or elective procedures.
To get a sense of Prudent Pet’s Florida pricing, we secret-shopped for quotes on mixed-breed dogs and cats in Fort Lauderdale between the ages of 1 and 9 years old. For consistency, we selected a $250 deductible and 80% reimbursement rate for all quotes requested. 
Get a quote: Get a fast Prudent Pet quote online to see rates for all three plans.
To learn more: Prudent Pet insurance review
 
 
Coverage and cost: Pawp offers an emergency fund membership rather than traditional pet insurance like other companies on this list. The membership includes up to $3,000 to cover expenses for one life-threatening pet-health emergency every year, paid to your veterinary office without any out-of-pocket costs. Covered items include severe internal or external injuries, choking and toxic ingestions.
To use the fund, you must first present your pet to a veterinarian in Pawp’s digital clinic, who must deem the emergency to be life-threatening and in need of immediate treatment. Once your emergency is approved, you must visit a vet within four hours. Pawp is designed strictly for severe events and does not extend its fund to pay for scheduled procedures or treatments, preventive care, breeding or pregnancy issues or any incident not considered life-threatening. 
Pawp memberships come at one flat rate of $24 per month. The fund can be used for one emergency annually at a cost of up to $3,000.
To learn more: Pawp review
 
 
In a survey of 1,000 pet owners across the United States, we found that more than 40% of respondents would have to pay for a pet emergency with a credit card or personal loan. Pet insurance can reduce out-of-pocket costs and high vet bills so you can focus on what matters — your pet’s road to recovery.
For owners of young pets, Embrace may be the perfect choice for your puppy’s or kitten’s preventive care, while Prudent Pet provides unlimited coverage and comprehensive benefits for the pet parent who wants top-of-the-line care. We recommend pulling quotes from at least three providers to compare rates and find the best pet insurance option for your furry friend.
 
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the best pet insurance companies available in Florida:
Provider
Get a Quote
Our Score
Monthly Cost*
Waiting Periods
Multi-Pet Discount
Mobile App
Spot Pet Insurance
Visit Spot
89
$41
14 days for all conditions
10%
✔
Embrace
Visit Embrace
90.5
$51
2 days for accidents; 14 days for illnesses
10%
✔
Healthy Paws
Visit Healthy Paws
84
$51
15 days for accidents and illnesses
None
✔
ASPCA
Visit ASPCA
90
$60
14 days for all conditions
10%
✔
Prudent Pet
Visit Prudent Pet
90.5
$80
5 days for accidents; 14 days for illnesses
10%
✘
Pawp
Visit Pawp
81
$24
14 days for all conditions
None
✘
*Each provider’s monthly cost is based on accident-and-illness policy premiums from quotes we obtained on 4-year-old, medium-sized dogs in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Because pricing may vary based on your pet’s age, breed and location, we recommend getting quotes directly from companies so you can get the most accurate cost information.
 
Though selecting home insurance and renters insurance can require in-depth knowledge of the subject, choosing your pet insurance is relatively straightforward. The two types of plans typically offered are coverage for accidents and more comprehensive coverage for both accidents and illnesses. Beyond standard plans, many pet insurance agencies offer add-ons for routine and wellness care at an additional charge.
Here’s a guide to how each type of pet insurance works:
 
 
Choices for plans, coverage, customization options and add-ons will vary among pet insurance providers. These elements can affect your monthly rate, what you pay in an emergency and even what items are included in your plan. Certain plans will be a better choice based on your pet’s age, breed and other factors.
Here’s what to look for to find the right fit: 
 
 
You can’t use any pet insurance immediately; all policies have a set waiting period after enrollment before coverage begins. However, some companies offer shorter time frames. For example, Embrace offers a 48-hour waiting period for accidents, and Prudent Pet has a short waiting period of five days for accidents. Standard wait times for illness are around 14 days.
Your pet insurance plan’s coverage depends on which type of plan you select. Accident-only plans take care of unexpected health problems such as broken bones, sprains, prescription medications, diagnostic tests and swallowed objects. Typically, accident-and-illness plans extend that coverage to include treatments for cancer, digestive illness, hip dysplasia and similar issues.
Based on the quotes we received while secret-shopping popular providers, we found that pet insurance in Florida usually costs around $35–$85 for dog insurance and $20–$60 for cat insurance. Of course, these numbers will vary based on your pet’s age, plan type and coverage limits.
 
Our review of pet insurance companies is based on in-depth industry research that includes reading hundreds of customer reviews, simulating the quote and purchasing process, speaking to representatives on the phone to assess the customer service experience and surveying 1,000 dog and cat owners nationwide to determine the most important elements of pet insurance coverage. We have scored each provider on a 100-point scale based on those elements.
Here are more details about each factor and how they’re weighted:
We use our rating system to compare and contrast each company against key factors to help us determine the best pet insurance companies in the industry. Additionally, we keep our research up to date and revisit our reviews on a regular basis.
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