Lemonade vs. Healthy Paws Pet Insurance Comparison 2024: Which is Best?

Among all the insurance companies available, two of the most popular when it comes to protecting pets are Lemonade and Healthy Paws. They both offer plans for cats and dogs and support charities chosen by customers and homeless pets, respectively. However, while they have their similarities, they also have a few important differences to consider.

Lemonade offers a broad range of annual coverage options and a discount for multiple pets. It also has various other insurance policies, for renters, homeowners, cars, and term life, along with benefits for customers who bundle multiple services.

Healthy Paws offers unlimited annual coverage with a broad range of deductibles and reimbursement options for pets of all ages. This option also has a 24/7 health helpline, so you’re not limited to when you can contact them to file a claim.

A Quick Comparison

Before we jump into the big comparison, here’s a brief look at both insurance companies side by side:

Brief Overview of Lemonade

Founded in 2016, Lemonade is a public-benefit corporation that’s fully licensed and regulated. While it takes a flat fee for running costs, unclaimed funds go toward funding charities chosen by its customers, such as the American Red Cross. Alongside the pet insurance plans, it offers insurance for renters, homeowners, cars, and term life. There is also a 10% discount for customers who bundle their pet insurance policy with other insurance plans offered by Lemonade.

The base pet insurance plan covers cats and dogs in 36 U.S. states plus Washington D.C. It covers accidents, illnesses, diagnostics, scans, lab work, surgery, hospitalization, outpatient, and emergency care. There are also optional wellness packages that cover things like injections and wellness exams. Lemonade enables you to save money by adding multiple pets, but doesn’t cover preexisting conditions, elective surgery, or neglect-related injuries and illnesses.

Brief Overview of Healthy Paws

Started in 2009 by two co-founders who met through a no-kill shelter, Healthy Paws is an insurance company and a non-profit foundation. While the insurance plans help pet parents afford to keep their pets healthy, the foundation helps support rescues and shelters. These efforts support homeless, adopted, and even purchased pets. The foundation has also helped many pets find forever homes through its services.

Healthy Paws works alongside Aon Corporation, a global insurance broker, to provide confidence and security to its customers and answer claims appropriately. The insurance plans are underwritten by Chubb, a publicly traded property and casualty insurer that offers a keen understanding of insurance policies.

Its plans cover accidents, illnesses, hereditary and congenital conditions, cancer, alternative therapies, hospitalization, specialty care, X-rays, blood tests, ultrasounds, surgery, and prescription medication. Healthy Paws doesn’t cover hip dysplasia for pets over 6 years old.

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Lemonade vs. Healthy Paws: Plans Available

Lemonade and Healthy Paws have similar plans, but they also have major differences. While they both offer coverage for accidents, illnesses, and a few other issues that can affect your pet, the annual coverage for the plan that you choose can make one stand out over the other. It’s the maximum annual limit — or annual coverage — that determines how much the insurer will reimburse you for veterinary expenses over a year.

Lemonade

There are a number of plans offered by Lemonade, and you can choose from an annual limit of $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, $50,000, or $100,000. Compared to policies with unlimited coverage, these limitations can be disappointing. However, Lemonade does enable you to adjust the price that you pay for the plan depending on your budget.

Healthy Paws

Unlike Lemonade, Healthy Paws offers a single plan with unlimited annual coverage. This can be a good thing, especially if your dog has any congenital or hereditary conditions that can worsen over their lifetime, both of which Healthy Paws covers. However, if you don’t need many veterinary visits during the year, an unlimited coverage plan has the potential to be unnecessary.

Lemonade vs. Healthy Paws: Reimbursements and Deductibles

The reimbursement and deductibles offered by insurance companies are often where things get confusing, but understanding the difference can help keep things simple. Deductibles are the amount that you have to pay toward the vet’s bill before the insurance company handles the rest. Reimbursement is the percentage of the bill that the insurer pays you back after you’ve paid the deductible.

Lemonade

Overall, Lemonade offers the same deductibles and reimbursement options for younger and older pets. However, there aren’t many choices to customize the plan based on your pet’s needs. The reimbursement options are 70%, 80%, and 90%, while the deductibles are $100, $250, or $500.

Healthy Paws

Younger pets benefit the most when it comes to the Healthy Paws policy for deductibles and reimbursement options. The deductibles range from $100 to $500 for pets 5 years and under, $250 to $750 for pets between 6 and 7, and $750 to $1,000 for pets over 8 years old. Reimbursement options include 70%–90% for younger pets, 60%–80% for 6–7-year-old pets, and 50%–60% for pets over 8.

Lemonade vs. Healthy Paws: Additional Perks

Along with both policies’ main plans, Lemonade and Healthy Paws have a few other perks. These can range from 24-hour helplines and mobile apps to hefty discounts.

Lemonade

Out of the two companies, Lemonade has the largest number of perks available. It offers several discounts for annual payment plans, multiple pet households, and insurance bundles. Lemonade also has several preventative care packages, one of which includes a plan to help you care for kittens and puppies.

Healthy Paws

Compared to Lemonade’s multiple discounts, the perks of Healthy Paws can be more difficult to determine. While it doesn’t offer discounts, the company does provide a 24/7 helpline that you can contact for all eventualities and to give you an easy way to call in claims. Healthy Paws also pays your veterinarian directly, enabling you to leave covering the bill to the insurance company once the claim has gone through.

Lemonade vs Healthy Paws: Summary of Pros and Cons

Lemonade

Lemonade might not have a 24/7 helpline, but it has a handful of positives that make up for it. The company has multiple discounts to support less well-off customers, and it has a short waiting period for accident claims.

Healthy Paws

Although the plans for Healthy Paws can vary immensely between younger and older pets, it does offer a round-the-clock helpline. It also pays your veterinarian directly and responds to claims quickly, so you can focus on helping your pet get better rather than worry about funds.

Company Verdict: Which One Has the Edge?

Now we’ve considered Lemonade and Healthy Paws as separate entities, here’s how they compare side by side.

Customer Service 📞

• Edge: Healthy Paws

While both Lemonade and Healthy Paws take pride in helping their customers keep their pets safe, Healthy Paws has slightly better customer service due to their round-the-clock availability. Unlike Lemonade, which doesn’t have a 24/7 helpline, Healthy Paws allows you to contact them whenever you need to.

Price of Plans 💲

• Edge: Lemonade

Lemonade and Healthy Paws are both similarly priced, although Healthy Paws is the more expensive option. Overall, Lemonade is better for pet owners on a budget due to the ability to add several pets to one plan and the discounts that the policy offers. The broader variety of annual coverage limits also enables you to better tailor the plan that you choose to suit your budget.

Areas of Coverage 🌐

• Edge: Lemonade

Although Healthy Paws covers many of the same health conditions that Lemonade does, including congenital and hereditary conditions, along with alternative therapies, Lemonade wins out for coverage. While you have to pay extra for preventative care, Lemonade can cover a few vaccines, spaying and neutering, and other essential veterinary visits for younger pets. Healthy Paws doesn’t have a preventative care option at this time.

Perks 📱

• Edge: Lemonade

When it comes to perks, Lemonade wins again. Compared to Healthy Paws, Lemonade has a much wider range of benefits attached to its policy. It offers discounts for paying annually and for multi-pet plans, along with a discount for bundling pet insurance with another insurance policy offered by the company. Healthy Paws does have a few perks of its own, though, including a 24/7 helpline and direct payment to your veterinarian to reduce wait times.

Conclusion

	Lemonade	Healthy Paws
Our Rating	Our Rating:	Our Rating:
Unlimited Plan	Unlimited Plan:	Unlimited Plan:
Medication	Medication:	Medication:
Prescription Foods	Prescription Foods:	Prescription Foods:
Behavioral Issues	Behavioral Issues:	Behavioral Issues:
	Compare Price	Compare Price

As two of the most popular pet insurance companies, Lemonade and Healthy Paws are similar in what they offer their customers. Both companies even give back to the community by supporting charities chosen by customers, animal shelters, and rescues.

While Healthy Paws allows you to benefit from unlimited annual coverage and better customization for each pet, Lemonade is more affordable for multi-pet households. Lemonade also has several more perks, including discounts and add-on packages for preventative care.