I can easily recall a few months back when I found my cat outside bleeding—he is an outdoor indoor cat with his own kitty door and sometimes he can get into fights with other cats when playing outside during the day—and I knew that I needed to take him right into the veterinarian office to get checked out; to make sure that all was well. So about two hundred dollars later, and after a nice disinfecting of the lacerations on his paw, and of course, some minor antibiotics, I realized, hey this is really darn expensive. Which was when I decided that for the future, some cat health insurance may be in order for my hyper one year old Tabby.

Why You Need Pet Health Insurance
I looked around, and since I already had my dog Amadeus insured through IAMS VPI pet health insurance, I decided to see about adding my kitten. It cost about thirty bucks per month and it kicked in right away—all they did was contact the vet who signed and faxed them back a local form. I received my cat health insurance cards in the mail about ten business days later. Now, whenever I take him into the vet, I print out a claim form for my vet to sign and simply mail or fax it in to get reimbursed. And yes, it really can add up in then end.

What Procedures Does it Cover?
Surprisingly, the pet health insurance policy that I have covers nearly every known medical procedure for both cats and dog, and other pets as well. Of course there is a percentage that it covers—it does not work like traditional human health insurance. But, if you factor that I spent nearly two hundred smackers at the vet last time with my cat, and they would have sent me check for half, that would have easily paid for a few months of pet health insurance. And, they cover checkups and routine visits, so they cost half as well; essentially it pays for itself in the end.

Who Provides Cat Health Insurance?
There are a number of great providers that offer quality and affordable pet health insurance. Here are some providers that I was able to find during my searches online for the best pet health insurance out there. IAMS VPI – I recommend this plan over others because they offer online claim forms. Pet Care Insurance Programs is another great pet health insurance company that offers similar rates and coverages to IAMS. And finally, ASPCA Pet Health Insurance is another great company that you can choose to go through. All offer similar rate plans and coverages, as well as claim processing efficiency.

How Does it All Work?
It is very basic how pet health insurance works. You bring a claim form into the office and have the vet sign it. You copy the invoice and mail it back in, or fax it back in with the claim form. They reimburse you for the difference of the percentage of the covered amount. Most pet health insurance companies will place an annual cap on the amounts that they will reimburse. For example, VPI will reimburse up to 14k annually.