Healthy Paws Pet Insurance at a Glance
If you’ve been researching pet insurance for more than five minutes, you’ve probably come across Healthy Paws. They’ve been around since 2009, back when pet insurance was still a pretty niche concept, and they built their reputation on a genuinely simple idea: one plan that covers everything without nickel-and-diming you on payout limits.
The backstory is actually kind of wholesome. Co-founders Rob Jackson and Steve Siadek crossed paths at a Seattle animal shelter where Steve was the executive director, and Rob kept showing up to foster dogs. That rescue-world origin shows up in their Every Quote Gives Hope program, which sends money to shelters every time someone requests a quote. Nice touch.
Fast forward to today, and Healthy Paws is now owned by Chubb, which snapped them up in 2024. That acquisition has been… let’s say “noticeable” to longtime customers, but more on that later. The core product remains appealingly straightforward: you pick your deductible and reimbursement percentage, and that’s basically it. No confusing coverage tiers, no wellness add-ons to decode, no annual caps to do math around.
But here’s the thing. That simplicity cuts both ways, and the premium situation for older pets has become infamous enough to warrant its own Reddit threads.
Healthy Paws pet insurance earned a 9.0 out of 10, scoring it a spot among our best pet insurance list. Here’s everything you need to know to decide if it’s the right fit for your furry friend.
Key Strengths
- The unlimited payout structure is legitimately rare and valuable; for example, you won’t hit an arbitrary cap for expensive procedures like a $30,000 surgery.
- Claims move fast, usually wrapping up in a couple of days.
- The app allows you to skip the paperwork entirely by just photographing your vet bill.
- They cover treatments some competitors charge extra for, including acupuncture, physical therapy, and hereditary conditions.
Key Weaknesses
- The 15-day waiting period for accidents is longer than most competitors.
- There is zero wellness coverage, so vaccines, dental cleanings, and checkups stay on your tab.
- No multi-pet discounts, annual payment savings, or other discounts exist.
- Premium increases as pets age have gotten brutal; customers report rates climbing from around $35 to over $100 a few years later, or worse.
- Customers with older pets are often locked in, as pre-existing conditions prevent other insurers from offering coverage.
Who Is Healthy Paws Best For?
Healthy Paws Pet Insurance is a good fit if you’re enrolling a young or middle-aged pet and your main concern is being protected against catastrophic vet bills without a coverage ceiling. The peace of mind from knowing that a cancer diagnosis or emergency surgery won’t bankrupt you is real, and the streamlined experience appeals to people who don’t want to comparison-shop coverage tiers.
If you’re enrolling a senior pet, want preventive care baked in, or plan to insure multiple animals and expect a discount for it, you’ll probably be happier elsewhere.
Healthy Paws Pet Insurance
Healthy Paws is an excellent fit for a specific type of pet owner: primarily those with a young or middle-aged pet (under six years old) whose main goal is protection against catastrophic, high-cost veterinary events. This plan is designed for the owner who wants the ultimate safety net, offering a genuinely rare unlimited payout structure that ensures expensive procedures, like a $30,000 surgery or ongoing cancer treatments, will not hit an annual or lifetime coverage ceiling.
The plan's key strength is its appealing simplicity. It offers exactly one plan covering accidents and illnesses, which is ideal for people who view insurance shopping as a chore and prefer to minimize time spent comparing endless coverage tiers, wellness riders, and confusing policy details. This straightforward approach, combined with a quick, app-based claims process that is often praised by customers, makes the experience streamlined and easy to manage without the hassle of paperwork or long waiting times for reimbursement.
Finally, Healthy Paws is perfect for those who value rock-solid financial stability and a straightforward, no-fuss approach. Backed by the global insurance giant Chubb, with its A++ rating from AM Best, customers don't have to worry about the company's ability to pay out massive claims years down the line. While it lacks discounts and wellness options, the value proposition is strongest for the owner prioritizing peace of mind against the worst-case scenario over coverage optimization and routine maintenance benefits.
- Zero Payout Limits. Get true peace of mind with unlimited lifetime coverage—no cap on expensive surgeries or long-term illness costs.
- 2-Day Claim Turnaround. Submit, approve, and get reimbursed faster than the industry average using the mobile app.
- Paperless Claims. Skip the forms and simply photograph your vet bill to file a claim in minutes.
- Broad Coverage. Includes therapies many competitors charge extra for, such as acupuncture and physical therapy.
- A++ Financial Security. Backed by Chubb, a global insurer with the highest financial rating, ensuring your claims will be paid.
Healthy Paws Overview
Healthy Paws set up shop in 2009 with headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, though their mailing address has since moved to Portland, Maine. They sell policies in all 50 states plus D.C. and extend coverage to vet visits in Canada if you’re traveling with your pet.
The coverage itself is dogs and cats only. No birds, no rabbits, no exotic reptiles you’ve named after Game of Thrones characters.
On the underwriting side, you’re dealing with Chubb’s insurance entities, specifically ACE American Insurance Company and a handful of related Chubb affiliates. Following the 2024 acquisition, Healthy Paws operates as a Chubb subsidiary, which brings serious financial muscle but has also coincided with some policy changes that longtime customers have noticed.
Healthy Paws Reliability
Whatever concerns exist about premium increases, financial stability isn’t one of them. Chubb is a global insurance behemoth with an A++ rating from AM Best (that’s the highest tier) and north of $245 billion in assets. When AM Best reaffirmed that rating in December 2024, it validated what most people already assumed: this isn’t a company that’s going to disappear or fail to pay claims because the money ran out.
Healthy Paws also carries an A+ from the Better Business Bureau with accredited status, which reflects their track record of addressing complaints. The company has operated for over 15 years now, and while the Chubb transition represents a meaningful change in corporate ownership, it hasn’t shaken the underlying financial foundation.
Healthy Paws Coverage Options
Here’s where Healthy Paws diverges from the industry trend toward endless customization. They sell exactly one plan. It covers accidents and illnesses. You adjust your deductible and reimbursement percentage to dial in pricing, and that’s the extent of your choices. No accident-only budget tier, no premium comprehensive package, no optional wellness riders.
Some people find this refreshing. Others find it limiting. It really depends on whether you view insurance shopping as a necessary evil best minimized or an opportunity to optimize.
What’s Covered
The coverage itself is comprehensive for what it is. Your policy handles illnesses and injuries, plus hereditary and congenital conditions (stuff like hip dysplasia that’s common in certain breeds), chronic conditions that require ongoing treatment, cancer at all stages, diagnostic work including X-rays and bloodwork, surgeries, hospital stays, prescriptions, emergency and specialist care, and alternative treatments like acupuncture, hydrotherapy, chiropractic care, and physical therapy.
They’ll also cover medically necessary euthanasia for a terminal condition, which is one of those things you hope never becomes relevant but matters when it does.
What’s NOT Covered
Pre-existing conditions are excluded, defined as anything showing symptoms before coverage started or during the waiting period. This is industry standard, but worth understanding because it includes conditions your vet noted in records, even if you weren’t aware of them.
Exam fees don’t get reimbursed, which adds up since most vet visits include an exam charge regardless of why you’re there. All preventive care stays on you: vaccines, flea and heartworm prevention, dental cleanings, spay/neuter, grooming, and deworming. Basically, if it’s routine maintenance rather than something that went wrong, it’s not covered.
Behavioral therapy and training aren’t included either, nor are elective procedures or boarding costs. Dental work only counts if it resulted from an accident, so gradual tooth decay is your problem.
The cruciate ligament exclusion deserves a specific mention: if your pet injures one knee’s ligament before coverage starts or during the waiting period, the other knee becomes permanently excluded, too. It’s the only bilateral exclusion in the policy, but it’s a meaningful one for breeds prone to knee problems.
Policy Terms
The waiting period runs 15 days for accidents and illnesses across the board, with hip dysplasia getting a separate 12-month waiting period. You can enroll pets as young as 8 weeks, but dogs and cats 14 and older aren’t eligible.
There’s a clinical exam requirement: pets under six need an exam within the past 12 months (or within 15 days after enrollment), while pets six and older need one within 30 days before enrollment or 15 days after. Skip this, and you might void your policy.
Hip dysplasia coverage only applies if you enrolled before your pet turned six. After that birthday, it’s excluded regardless of waiting periods.
The flexibility on vets is good: use any licensed veterinarian in the U.S. or Canada, including specialists and emergency hospitals. Direct pay to the vet is technically available but requires advance coordination and isn’t guaranteed.
Special Features
The Healthy Paws Foundation channels a portion of premiums toward homeless pet care and adoption programs. The Every Quote Gives Hope initiative generates shelter donations just from people requesting quotes, which is a nice PR move that also does genuine good.
Healthy Paws Affordability
Pricing varies wildly based on where you live, your pet’s age and breed, and what deductible/reimbursement combo you choose. To give you a rough sense:
Research samples put average monthly premiums around $65 for dogs and $33 for cats, though that obscures enormous variation. A two-year-old medium mixed-breed dog in Connecticut with a $500 deductible and 80% reimbursement might pay around $48 monthly. A same-age American shorthair cat with identical settings could be about $23.
The picture shifts for older pets. An 8-year-old might only qualify for a $1,000 deductible with 60% reimbursement, which makes the monthly premium harder to compare apples-to-apples with younger pet quotes.
Some analyses put the average closer to $139 monthly for dogs and $48 for cats, but methodology matters here. The actual number you’ll see depends heavily on your specific situation.
Pricing Factors
Age drives premium more than anything else. Breed matters too, particularly for dogs with known health predispositions. French bulldogs cost more to insure than mutts because their respiratory and joint issues are basically guaranteed. Location factors in because vet costs vary regionally. Your deductible and reimbursement selections obviously move the number as well.
Cats are generally cheaper than dogs to insure because they’re cheaper to treat and statistically need less care.
Customization Options
Deductibles typically include $250, $500, and $1,000, though availability varies by location and pet age. Some quotes may show $100 or $750 options.
Reimbursement percentages usually span 70%, 80%, and 90%. Older pets or certain locations might only see 50% or 60% as options.
Coverage limits don’t exist here because everything is unlimited. You can’t trade lower limits for a cheaper premium.
Discounts Available
There aren’t any. No multi-pet savings, no annual payment discount, no military rate, no loyalty perks. This is increasingly unusual in an industry where competitors routinely offer 5-10% off for bundling or paying upfront.
Value Assessment
The unlimited coverage matters most in worst-case scenarios, which is arguably when insurance value peaks. But the lack of discounts and the well-documented premium escalation for aging pets undercut the value proposition over time.
There’s also a calculation quirk worth knowing: Healthy Paws applies your reimbursement percentage to the bill first, then subtracts your deductible. Some insurers do it the other way around (deductible first, then percentage). The Healthy Paws method results in slightly lower reimbursements on any given claim.
Healthy Paws Claims Process
Claims handling is genuinely one of Healthy Paws’ strengths. They’ve ditched paper forms entirely. You photograph your vet invoice, upload it through the app or website, and that’s basically it. You can also email documentation to their claims address or fax/mail if you’re old school, but the digital path is what most people use.
Processing typically wraps in two business days, and once approved, reimbursement usually hits within 24 hours. Direct deposit clears in about 72 hours, depending on your bank; mailed checks can take up to two weeks.
First-time claims require your pet’s complete medical history so they can establish a baseline. After that, subsequent claims are much simpler since they already have records on file.
One thing to know: direct payment to your vet is technically possible, but you have to arrange it in advance during business hours. It’s not automatic, and approval doesn’t guarantee the claim itself gets covered.
Healthy Paws Customer Service
Phone support runs Monday through Friday, seven am to 5 pm Pacific, plus Saturdays, 8 am to 5 pmPacific. Closed Sundays. You can also email or use their website contact form, though email responses reportedly range from a couple of hours to a few days depending on volume.
The phone number is 855-898-8991 if you need to call.
Digital Experience
The mobile app (iOS and Android) handles most of what you’d need: claim submissions, status checking, policy management, billing updates, and reimbursement method changes. Reviews generally praise it as intuitive, though some users report occasional glitches with file uploads.
The online Customer Center offers similar functionality through a web browser.
Customer Satisfaction Metrics
The BBB rating sits at A+ with accreditation. Trustpilot scores hover around 3.8-3.9 out of 5 based on nearly 3,000 reviews, which is decent but not exceptional.
Reddit sentiment skews negative, with analysis suggesting roughly 80% of discussions about Healthy Paws trend critically. The overwhelming theme in those threads? Premium increases for older pets.
Healthy Paws Customer Highlights
What People Love:
The speed comes up constantly. Customers describe claims approved within 24 hours and money back in their accounts the next business day. One customer’s Golden Retriever needed emergency surgery to remove an acorn blocking his intestines, racking up nearly $22,000 in bills. Healthy Paws reimbursed over $17,000 of it at 80% coverage.
Another customer with a chronically ill dog has filed over 220 claims over the years and reports consistent, efficient processing every time. They mentioned that Healthy Paws actually checks in on their pet, which feels like a small touch but matters when you’re going through repeated health scares.
What Frustrates People:
The premium increases are the recurring nightmare. A customer who’d been paying faithfully for over a decade described their premium jumping from $150 to $335 monthly. Another saw rates more than double after their dog turned 13, which they attribute partly to the Chubb acquisition timing.
It’s not just premiums. Some customers report that their coverage terms degraded alongside the price increases: higher deductibles, lower reimbursement percentages, and reduced options. When you’re years into a policy, and your pet has developed conditions that would count as pre-existing elsewhere, you’re essentially trapped.
There are also scattered complaints about records requests, where customers and their vets reportedly sent documentation multiple times only to be told it was never received.
Pros and Cons of Healthy Paws
Pros
- Truly Unlimited Coverage No caps per incident, per year, or over your pet’s lifetime. For serious or recurring conditions, this eliminates the scenario where you hit a ceiling and have to choose between out-of-pocket thousands or forgoing treatment.
- One Plan, Easy Decisions You’re not going to spend a weekend in spreadsheet purgatory comparing coverage tiers. Pick your deductible, pick your reimbursement percentage, done.
- Fast, Painless Claims. The app-based submission system works well, processing is quick, and reimbursements arrive fast. This is the part of the experience that actually exceeds expectations.
- Rock-Solid Financial Backing: Chubb’s A++ rating means you don’t have to worry about the company being around to pay claims in 10 years. For a product that only provides value when something goes wrong, that matters.
Cons
- Premium Escalation for Aging Pets. The single most common complaint is severe. Customers report rates doubling, tripling, or worse as pets get older. By the time increases become painful, you’re often stuck because other insurers won’t cover your pet’s existing conditions.
- Zero Preventive Care Option.s If you want vaccines, dental cleanings, or annual checkups subsidized, Healthy Paws can’t help you. Everything routine stays out of pocket.
- Longer Wait Than Competitor: Fifteen days before accident coverage kicks in is longer than many alternatives. Early emergencies will be entirely on you.
- No Discount Programs: Multi-pet households, annual payment, military service, nothing. Competitors commonly offer 5-10% savings through various channels; Healthy Paws offers none.
Our Verdict and Score for Healthy Paws
Healthy Paws works well for a specific type of pet owner: someone with a young or middle-aged cat or dog who wants straightforward coverage against major medical events and doesn’t want to think too hard about policy details. The unlimited payout structure provides real security, and the claims experience is legitimately good.
The concerns are real, though. Premium increases over time, especially for aging pets, have soured a lot of longtime customers. The lack of any discounts or wellness options makes the product less flexible than competitors. And the longer waiting period for accidents is a genuine drawback for new enrollees.
Good Fit If:
You’re insuring a pet under six and want protection against catastrophic vet bills. You prefer simplicity over optimization and don’t want to navigate complicated coverage decisions. Financial security matters to you, and you want a company backed by one of the largest insurers globally.
Look Elsewhere If:
You’re enrolling a senior pet and are concerned about affordability over time (consider Pumpkin). You want preventive care covered or an accident-only budget option. You have multiple pets and expect a discount for bundling them together (consider MetLife) .
Methodology
Our evaluation weighted five categories based on their importance to the average pet insurance buyer:
Affordability (30%): We pet insurance rates across multiple pet profiles, factoring in available discounts and fee structures. Pets Best’s industry-low prices drove their strong score here.
Claims Process (20%): We evaluated submission options, processing times, reimbursement speed, and the availability of direct vet payment. Multiple submission methods and reasonably fast processing earned a solid score, though customer friction reports prevented a higher rating.
Customer Service (20%): We assessed accessibility, digital tools, and customer satisfaction metrics from Trustpilot, BBB, and Reddit. The BBB complaint situation and app issues significantly impacted this score.
Stability (20%): We examined A.M. Best ratings, years in business, corporate backing, and regulatory standing. Strong financial backing offset by mixed underwriter ratings resulted in an above-average score.
Coverage Options (10%): We reviewed plan variety, what’s covered and excluded, waiting periods, and special features. Comprehensive offerings with genuine customization options earned a high score, with waiting periods being the main drawback.
Our review methodology weighs five key factors to generate overall scores. We analyzed 20 pet insurance providers across identical criteria, then applied a curve based on the top performer to ensure fair comparisons.
Healthy Paws Category Scores
- Financial Strength: 9/10
- Coverage Options: 7/10
- Affordability: 6/10
- Claims Experience: 8/10
- Customer Experience: 7/10
- Overall weighted curved score: 9.0/10
Check out our complete methodology and see how every provider stacked up in our Pet Insurance Reviews.
