GEICO Pet Insurance Review

If one reliable pet insurance provider doesn’t cut it for you, then a team of two top-quality insurers might do the trick. For this very reason, GEICO teams up with Embrace to bring pet parents one of the finest solutions on the pet insurance market.

Born in the midst of the Great Depression, GEICO is an insurance venture built on resilience, integrity, innovation, and honest, hard work.

They’re experts in auto, homeowners, renters, business, and life insurance products. That’s why when they decided to offer pet insurance services, they wanted to continue that practice of being top-of-the-line in every aspect of their offerings, so they joined forces with Embrace – a staple in the pet coverage space.

To learn more about their partnership and why their pet insurance solutions are the top choice of many in the pet community, continue reading this GEICO pet insurance review.

GEICO’s Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
High customizability for tweaking the price of your policy premium.	As a requirement for enrollment, you’d need to take a full veterinary exam for your pet.
Pet insurance coverage is accessible anywhere in the world.	Pets above 15 can’t enroll on the accidents and illnesses pet coverage plan – only accidents coverage is available to these pets.
Diminishing deductibles for healthy pets that don’t require veterinary care during an entire policy period.	No option for unlimited claim benefits on an annual level.
A 10% multi-pet discount.	A pet wellness care plan that’s nothing more than a wellness budgeting tool.
A 5% military discount.	A $1.00 fee for monthly transactions and a $25 fee for entry.
Access to PawSupport – a 24/7 virtual vetline
30-day money-back guarantee.

GEICO’s Key Attributes

1. Underwriter: For California – American Modern Home Insurance Company; For the rest of the states – American Southern Home Insurance Company (parent company: Munich Reinsurance Company)
   • AM Best Rating: A+
   • BBB Rating: A+
2. Exam period: In order to become eligible for a GEICO/Embrace pet insurance policy, pet owners need to provide all of their pet’s medical records from the past year. Embrace needs the paperwork to determine the extent of your pet coverage. If your pet hasn’t undergone a complete vet exam during the 12 months prior to enrollment, you can take the exam within 14 days after you submit your application;
3. Increase in monthly premium: You can expect that your GEICO/Embrace policy premium will increase at some of your policy renewals. Pet insurance companies implement this practice to maintain their ability to continue reimbursing their customers. They constantly monitor the veterinary services market and keep track of inflation on prices. They also consider pets’ veterinary needs as they age, so they factor in this detail into the price change as well;
4. Claim submission time limit: With GEICO/Embrace, you can file a claim for your veterinary expenses as soon as you have the vet bills and the related payment recipients in your possession. But you are allowed a maximum of 60 days after your policy period ends to file a claim for a veterinary expense which occurred during that policy period;
5. Claim processing times: GEICO and Embrace make it abundantly clear that as soon as you file a claim with them, it will be processed within 15 working days. This is usually the practice for the first claim that you submit. With every subsequent claim, the insurance specialists are already more familiar with your pet’s situation and are able to process your claims faster. Claims for wellness procedures are easier to process – usually within 5 days;
6. Waiting periods: When it comes to accessing your GEICO/Embrace, the waiting periods for accidents and wellness are quite satisfactory. There is no waiting period for wellness treatments, and accidents become available in 2 days after enrollment. Coverage for illnesses gets unlocked after the industry average of 14 days, and orthopedic conditions for dogs have a waiting period of 6 months.
   • Accidents – 2 days;
   • Illnesses – 14 days;
   • Wellness – 0 days;
   • Orthopedic conditions – 6 months (might be reduced to a minimum of 14 if an orthopedic specialist assesses your pet’s orthopedic healthcare).
7. Pet insurance coverage with GEICO is accessible anywhere in the world. If you travel with your pet within or outside the US, rest assured that you can use any licensed vet’s services and get reimbursement for your costs;
8. Bilateral conditions are excluded from your GEICO/Embrace pet insurance coverage. That means that if your pet had a condition that usually affects both sides of their body before you became a GEICO policyholder, you won’t get coverage for that condition as the risk of developing the same condition on the opposite side is significant. Such conditions include hip and elbow dysplasia, cataracts, cruciate ligament injuries, luxating patellas, and more.

GEICO’s Insurance Plans

Through Embrace, GEICO provides their policyholders with two amazing pet insurance plans covering more than just the major reasons for visiting a vet whenever your pet has an emergency.

Below, we’ll review Embrace’s Accidents and Illnesses pet insurance plan and the Accident Only plan with all the accompanying details and conditions that apply.

Accidents and Illnesses Plan

Treating your pet for almost anything that causes harm to their health and wellbeing can pose a hard choice when you consider the price of all the veterinary services they need to receive. That won’t be a problem anymore if you sign up for GEICO’s Accidents and Illnesses pet coverage plan administered by Embrace.

This pet insurance solution is one of the most flexible options among the tons of similar plans offered in the industry. No matter their budget, every pet parent can build a custom policy tailored to their specific needs.

The amount of covered instances is the same no matter how you tweak each policy parameter. That way, Embrace ensures all pets are offered equal protection benefits, just as they deserve.

Here, you can review every benefit option that’s characteristic of Embrace’s accidents and illnesses pet coverage:

• Lifetime limits for claim benefits: Unlimited;
• Annual limits for claim benefits: $5,000, $8,000, $10,000, $15,000, and $30,000;
• Reimbursement levels: 70%, 80%, and 90%;
• Annual deductible options: $200, $300, $500, $750, and $1,000.

Again, you can choose only one of each of the above parameters. And no matter what you’ll choose, some conditions are fixed for every possible combination of choices.

For example, all policyholders get the same waiting periods. Accidents have a waiting period of 48 hours and illnesses become available after a waiting period of 14 days. If you own a dog, you’ll also need to wait for 6 months before you can use Embrace’s pet coverage for orthopedic conditions (this rule can be waived if you provide Embrace with an orthopedic report card)

The age restrictions are also equal for everyone. Pet parents can’t enroll their pups or kitties if they’re younger than 6 weeks. Similarly, if you own a pet that’s 15 years old or older, GEICO and Embrace will allow you to sign them up only for their accident-only pet insurance coverage. 

If your pet got on the accidents and illnesses plan before they turned 15, they’ll stay on it for life. Neither GEICO nor Embrace will downgrade their coverage as they grow older.

Accidents Only Plan

Contrary to the Accidents and Illnesses plan’s customizability, GEICO’s Accidents Only plan has fixed benefit limits across all policy parameters.

You can notice that when you inspect the following info:

• Lifetime limit for claim benefits: Unlimited;
• Annual limit for claim benefits: $5,000;
• Reimbursement level: 90%;
• Annual deductible option: $100.

This package might lack the previous plan’s flexibility, but it greatly makes up for it given its affordability, low deductible, and wide range of covered instances.

Remember that you can utilize this pet coverage plan only if you have a senior cat or dog (15 or older). In rarer cases, this is convenient, because your old chap might surprise you with their longevity. Especially cats – they can comfortably reach the 20-year mark and could benefit a lot from a first-rate pet coverage plan.

What’s Covered With a GEICO Pet Insurance Policy

You can comb through your GEICO/Embrace pet insurance policy and discover first-hand everything that your pet coverage includes. But why go through the hassle when you can simply review all of the covered instances in our article.

If you opted for an Accidents Only pet insurance plan for your senior pet companion, you can expect all new emergencies and injuries to be covered by GEICO and Embrace.

Or, more specifically, the following instances:

• Accidents and emergencies like bloating, poisoning, ingestion of foreign bodies, car accidents, tears, lacerations, cuts, bone fractures and head/jaw trauma, bites, burns, wounds, and so much more;
• Fees for veterinary visits and exams for injuries and accidents that are covered by your policy;
• Prescribed meds used for treatment of the above-mentioned injuries (only if prescribed by your vet). Note that this instance isn’t included in the coverage for the state of New York.

The Accidents and Illnesses plan covers everything mentioned above with the Accident Only plan with the extension of coverage for illnesses.

The following is what’s included in this GEICO/Embrace plan:

• Everything that comes with the Accident Only plan;
• Veterinary exam fees for both accidents and illnesses;
• Chronic illnesses that need to be monitored and treated for long periods of time. May include illnesses such as arthritis, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, seizures, kidney disease, skin mass, and many more;
• Genetic and congenital illnesses passed down to pet’s offspring such as birth defects, hypothyroidism, IVDD – intervertebral disc disease, patellar luxation, portosystemic shunt, allergies, hip and elbow dysplasia, hernias, and other hereditary conditions;
• Cancer treatments including diagnosing (biopsy) conditions like mast cell tumor, melanoma, hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, lipoma, or osteosarcoma, and treating them with chemo and radiation therapy, follow up treatments, rehab, and more;
• Orthopedic conditions which require a 6-month waiting period which can be reduced to 14 days with an orthopedic report card. These may include hip or elbow dysplasia, broken bones, cruciate ligament tears, osteosarcoma, and many more;
• Dental conditions are covered with up to $1,000 annual benefit. Coverage includes treatments for dental exams, root canals, tooth extractions, stomatitis, gingivitis, periodontitis, and more;
• Preventable conditions that weren’t prevented by vaccinations or dietary foods and allowed to develop such as parvo, influenza, leptospirosis, Lyme disease, parasites, and more;
• Treatments and medications for behavioral issues such as excessive chewing, anxiety, depression, aggression, and more;
• Alternative care – complementary treatments for increasing body mobility and function such as physiotherapy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, chiropractic therapy, laser treatments, and more;
• Emergency and specialty care including after-hours admissions;
• Surgery and hospital stay – planned or emergency surgeries and the accompanying exam fees, anesthesia, medication, hospitalization, medical waste fees, follow-ups, rehab, and more;
• Diagnostic exams including blood and urine panel, CT scans, ultrasound, MRI scans, X-rays, and more;
• Prescription meds like pain killers, antibiotics, insulin, steroids, allergy pills, antidepressants, and more FDA-approved drugs that are used for treating health conditions.

What Does GEICO Exclude From Pet Coverage

When you’re met with utmost transparency, you can’t miss anything that’s excluded by your GEICO pet insurance policy. Every pet insurance company has to exclude some veterinary services for certain conditions and injuries so they can regulate that everyone who correctly uses their coverage receives the best service possible.

GEICO and Embrace outline their exclusion very clearly, so make sure you read the entire fine print before you put your signature on it. That way you’ll know exactly when to turn to both of these pet insurers for financial assistance.

For your convenience, here are all of the exclusions listed on a pet insurance policy issued by Embrace:

• Any condition or injury that occurred prior to or within the waiting periods (pre-existing);
• Holistic and alternative medicine of the following types: magnet therapy, bicon, reiki, veterinary orthopedic manipulation, hyperbaric oxygen, ozone, nutritional counseling, prolotherapy, electroacupuncture, massage, etc.;
• Costs for treating injuries and conditions caused deliberately by the pet’s owner or someone in their household;
• Prescribed nutritional supplements, dietary additions, and wellness devices such as glucosamine, denamarin, probiotics, shampoos, conditioners, grooming supplies, ear cleaners, etc.;
• Wellness and routine procedures unless obtained through the pet wellness care add-on. This may include vaccines, deworming, neutering or spaying, de-matting, flea and tick prevention, etc.;
• Costs for treating injuries and conditions caused by activities such as animal cruelty, commercial racing, organized fighting, working, etc.;
• Foreign body ingestion treatment is limited to one procedure per year;
• Costs for treating complications arising from pregnancy-related conditions including breeding, birth, and nursing;
• Boarding and transportation;
• Elective and cosmetic procedures for tail docking, declawing, dewclaw removal, ear cropping, and similar medically unnecessary procedures;
• Experimental treatments, genetic testing, and cloning of pets;
• Organ transplants;
• Costs for conditions arising due to pandemics or epidemic like swine or avian flu;
• Costs for treating conditions arising from natural disasters, biochemical radiation, war, nuclear radiation, and similar situations.

One bright spot in all these exclusions is the fact that with GEICO and Embrace, your pet’s pre-existing conditions can become covered by your policy if you give it some time. When they stop displaying symptoms of their pre-existing condition, a vet can register that, and if you take them for a follow-up after a year and they’re still symptom-free from those particular conditions, your vet will deem them cured. You can submit that medical report to GEICO or Embrace and they’ll insert those conditions as “covered” in your renewed pet insurance policy.

GEICO’s Wellness Coverage Plan

There are tons of veterinary services that pet insurance plans don’t cover but are needed to maintain a pet’s health and happiness on a satisfactory level. Just like we regularly perform blood or urine exams or take nutritional supplements to ensure our immune system is well-supported.

Well, GEICO and Embrace offer a chance to provide routine and preventative care for your pets – beyond of what’s included in your standard pet insurance package.

The wellness package offered by GEICO and Embrace is pretty different from what most other insurers offer. In fact, the plan is simply a budgeting tool enabling policyholders to invest in this line of coverage on a monthly basis and then use that money whenever they plan to provide routine or preventative treatment for their pets.

The Wellness Rewards for Routine Care plan offers three different allowance amounts, letting you decide how much your pet needs to use during the entire policy period (a full year).

The three benefit options that come with this plan are the $250/year, $450/year, and $650/year allowance packages.

Naturally, they all have dedicated monthly fees that depend on the number of benefits they provide. The $250/year costs $18.75/month while the $450/year plan is worth 35.42/month. The plan that offers the highest annual allowance of $650/year has a price tag of $52.09/month.

If you’re interested to know what exactly could you use your Wellness Rewards package for, review the list of benefits below:

• Wellness exam fees;
• Spay/neuter surgery;
• Microchipping;
• Vaccinations and titers;
• Preventative teeth cleaning;
• Nutritional supplements;
• Flea, tick, and heartworm preventatives;
• Gastropexy;
• Fecal and routine blood tests;
• Grooming;
• Nail trimming;
• Routine chiropractic care;
• Training;
• Medicated shampoos;
• Wearable pet-tracking monitors;
• Routine anal gland expression;
• Reiki, massage therapy, and acupuncture;
• OFA testing;
• Radiographs;
• Hip dysplasia exams;
• Cremation or burial services.

A good guideline to which plan to purchase is your pet’s age. If they’re young and vital, they can benefit the most from a comprehensive wellness plan that would cover their spaying/neutering procedure, all the vaccinations they need, microchipping, parasite preventatives, and more. Therefore, the $650/year plan might be the most suitable option in this case.

Later on, pets require fewer yearly preventatives, so you might opt for one of the two lower plans.

It’s also worth noting that if you decide to sign up for the Wellness Rewards plan, your coverage will start immediately. There is no waiting period. Your pet insurance plan’s annual maximum limit and the deductible don’t apply to this plan either.

This wellness package can be used anywhere, just like Embrace’s pet insurance coverage. However, residents of Rhode Island don’t have the possibility to purchase this plan yet.

The strongest suit of the Wellness Rewards plan is the annual reward of $25 that each policyholder receives after they successfully complete a full year with GEICO and Embrace. The reward goes into your wellness plan and can be used for the above-mentioned benefits.

Other than that, it’s important to note that you can save up money for routine pet care on your own and not having the Wellness Rewards coverage plan would make no significant difference.

Extra Features

There are a couple more features that GEICO and Embrace offer to their policyholders which are worthy of a mention.

The two extra features compliment your pet insurance policy and make it an even more valuable asset to possess in times of pet emergencies.

Healthy Pet Deductible

Designed to reward pet parents who take flawless care of their pet, the Healthy Pet Deductible offered by GEICO and Embrace is a feature that allows for your chosen deductible to become lower each year.

Wonder how? Well, if your pet doesn’t require veterinary care for a full year (meaning you really used up that wellness coverage), your initial deductible will become $50 lower for the next policy term.

This is called diminishing deductible and it’s not only a one-year thing. It constantly goes down by $50 with each year you don’t submit any claims with GEICO and Embrace.

For example, if you picked a deductible of $200 when you enrolled with these two pet insurance providers, and then spent the next 3 years without filing a single claim for reimbursement, the deductible for your fourth policy period will be set at only $50 (3x $50 = $150).

You should note that as soon as you file a claim with GEICO/Embrace, you need to pay your deductible at its original or diminished price. At that moment, your diminished deductible is reset and for the next policy term, it will be set at what you initially chose.

24/7 Access to PawSupport

What if you didn’t have to run to the vet clinic every time your pet behaved a bit differently than its usual happy-go-lucky daily routine?

GEICO and Embrace provide the perfect solution to give you some peace of mind in stressful moments regarding your pet’s health state.

Meet PawSupport. A 24/7 live televet line that allows all GEICO/Embrace policyholders non-stop access to a Pet Pro – a veterinary specialist who’s always ready to answer any of your pet-related questions.

And it doesn’t even have to be a pet emergency to request a chat with a Pet Pro. You can discuss and ask for advice on basically any pet-related topic. That may include:

• Questions about medications;
• Advice on which nutritional supplements and vitamins to use or not;
• Options about alternative treatments;
• What to do in emergency situations like a foreign body ingestion;
• Moments when your pet ate something suspicious on the street;
• Unknown and strange symptoms;
• How to better manage your pet’s chronic condition;
• Which wellness treatments to seek and how often;
• How to deal with behavioral issues;
• Best exercise types for your dog or cat;
• Evaluating laboratory results;
• Advice about your pet’s diet and nutrition.

PawSupport is an online tool that can be accessed within Embrace’s mobile app or online portal. The options to contact a Pet Pro include phone calls, live text chats, and live video conferences. They are available after-hours and on holidays too.

GEICO’s Pricing Quotes

We’ve talked about the great flexibility of the Embrace pet insurance policy plans and how helpful that aspect is for every pet parent to build the pet coverage plan they need in particular.

The options that you choose for your pet policy also affect the price of your GEICO/Embrace monthly premium. Picking a high deductible combined with a lower reimbursement percentage and a lower annual benefits limit will result in a lower monthly premium.

The age and breed of your pet and the location of your residence also factor in when your premium price is determined. Older, purebred pets living in urban areas tend to have higher policy premiums than young, mixed-breed fur balls.

When it comes to the price of the accident-only pet coverage, Embrace’s premiums are always affordable no matter the age, breed, or location of the pet.

You can check a few sample quotes we pulled from Embrace’s online quote generator right below.

Pricing Quotes for Dogs

Breed	German Shepherd	French Bulldog	Labrador Retriever
Gender	Male	Male	Female
Age	2 years 4 months	4 years 2 months	6 years 6 months
Location	New York	California	Colorado
Deductible	$500	$500	$500
Claim Limit	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Reimbursement	90%	90%	90%
GEICO’s Accidents and Illnesses plan	$76.28/month	$70.31/month	$86.82/month
GEICO’s Accident Only plan (if dog is 15 or older)	$22.18/month	$18.02/month	$35.44/month
GEICO’s Wellness Rewards plan – $250	$18.75/month	$18.75/month	$18.75/month
GEICO’s Wellness Rewards plan – $450	$35.42/month	$35.42/month	$35.42/month
GEICO’s Wellness Rewards plan – $650	$52.09/month	$52.09/month	$52.09/month

^{*quotes obtained in February 2022}

Pricing Quotes for Cats

Breed	Siamese	Persian	Abyssinian
Gender	Male	Male	Female
Age	2 years 5 months	4 years 1 month	8 years 2 months
Location	New York	Colorado	California
Deductible	$500	$500	$500
Claim Limit	$10,000	$10,000	$10,000
Reimbursement	90%	90%	90%
GEICO’s Accidents and Illnesses plan	$52.25/month	$47.92/month	$31.52/month
GEICO’s Accident Only plan (if cat is 15 or older)	$8.21/month	$13.11/month	$6.67/month
GEICO’s Wellness Rewards plan – $250	$18.75/month	$18.75/month	$18.75/month
GEICO’s Wellness Rewards plan – $450	$35.42/month	$35.42/month	$35.42/month
GEICO’s Wellness Rewards plan – $650	$52.09/month	$52.09/month	$52.09/month

^{*quotes obtained in February 2022}

Discounts and Savings

When it comes to discounts, it doesn’t really matter if you obtain your pet coverage through GEICO or directly through Embrace. The same amount of the available discount will apply to your policy premium.

Here’s how you can lower your policy fee with GEICO or Embrace:

• A 10% multi-pet discount is offered to all those who wish to enroll more than one pet with these insurers. And unlike the rest of the pet insurance world, the multi-pet discount by GEICO/Embrace applies to the initial pet’s policy as well;
• A 5% military discount* can be applied to your pet policy if you or anyone in your immediate family is an active member of the US military. Military veterans can get the discount too;
• A 10% employee benefits discount** can be obtained through your employer if they offer GEICO or Embrace pet insurance as part of your employee benefits package.
  
  ^{*not available for policyholders in New York and Tennessee
  **not available for policyholders in New York, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Florida}

There’s also the 30-day money-back guarantee which you can use to experience your pet insurance policy first-hand. Testing GEICO’s and Embrace’s services for an entire month can really make a difference in deciding whether you want to continue using their pet coverage or cancel your membership.

To get a refund when canceling within your first month of service, you mustn’t file any claims with GEICO or Embrace.

How Does GEICO Compare With Its Competitors?

When two of the most powerful insurance agencies team up to offer their exclusive service, it’s inevitable that you can expect some serious quality being offered.

But, that’s most visible when we put the subjects of our review against some serious pet insurance rivals. We believe that will reveal the true power of all our contenders.

We chose Healthy Paws, Petplan, and PetPartners to be the three competitors to GEICO and Embrace today.

In the charts below, you can check how we compare them using the most meticulous details; all to help you get a bit closer to the pet insurance plan that’s a perfect match for you.

GEICO vs. Healthy Paws

How about a company that donates to get pets without a home get vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and medically treated, only by having you opt for a free quote? That’s Healthy Paws.

With even better customizability than Embrace, Healthy Paws astonishes everyone with their all-encapsulating pet coverage plan. They might not cover veterinary exam fees and don’t offer a multi-pet discount, but considering how affordable they are for the amount of coverage they include in their policies.

Feature	GEICO	Healthy Paws
Coverage Effective	Worldwide	USA and Canada
Reimbursement	Choice of 70%, 80%, or 90% of covered expenses	Choice of 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, or 90% of covered expenses, depending on pet’s age
Co-Payment	10%, 20%, or 30%	10%, 20%,30%, 40%, or 50% depending on pet’s age
Deductible	$200 – $1,000	$100 – $1,000 depending on pet’s age
Type of Deductible	Annual	Annual
Claim Limit Options	$5,000 – $30,000	Unlimited
Accident-Only Plan	Available	Not available
Wellness Plan	Available	Not available
Unlimited Benefits Plan	No	Yes
Accidents	Yes	Yes
Illnesses	Yes	Yes
Illness Waiting Period	14 days	15 days
Accident Waiting Period	2 days	15 days
Cruciate Ligament Waiting Period	6 months (14 days with orthopedic report card)	15 days (12 months for hip dysplasia)
Bilateral Conditions	Excluded	Excluded
Chronic Conditions	Yes	Yes
Hereditary and Congenital Conditions	Yes	Yes
Cancer	Yes	Yes
Dental Coverage	Yes	Yes
Prescription Medicine	Yes	Yes
Alternative/Holistic Therapy	Yes	Yes
Behavioral Issues	Yes	Yes
Exam Fees	Yes	No
Exam Required for Enrollment	Yes	Yes
Available At Any Vet Clinic	Yes	Yes
Microchip	Optional add-on	No
Minimum Pet Age Limit	6 weeks	8 weeks
Maximum Pet Age Limit	14 years for illnesses; No limit for accidents	14 years (4 years in New York)
Entry Fee	$25.00	$25.00
Monthly Transaction Fee	$1.00	$0.00
Multi-Pet Discount	10% for each pet policy if more than one pet is added	Not available
Claim Repayment	Within 15 days (8-9 days on average)	Within 10 days (2-3 days on average)
Direct Vet Bill Payment	No	Available
Money-Back Guarantee	30 days	30 days
AM Best Rating	A+	A++
BBB Rating	A+	A

^{*companies’ features compared in February 2022}

Read the full Healthy Paws Pet Insurance review.

GEICO vs. Petplan

GEICO and Embrace are not the only pet insurers out there who provide a free, top-quality televet service. Petplan does too.

Embrace grants you $50 off on your deductible if you go claim-free for an entire year. Well, Petplan will cut 15% off of your entire policy premium if you do the same. And if you continue having a healthy pet, for every subsequent year, Petplan will cut 30% off of your policy premium.

Feature	GECIO	Petplan
Coverage Effective	Worldwide	USA and Canada
Reimbursement	Choice of 70%, 80%, or 90% of covered expenses	Choice of 70%, 80%, or 90% of covered expenses
Co-Payment	10%, 20%, or 30%	10%, 20%, or 30%
Deductible	$200 – $1,000	$250 – $500
Type of Deductible	Annual	Annual
Claim Limit Options	$5,000 – $30,000	$5,000, $15,000, or Unlimited
Accident-Only Plan	Available	Not available
Wellness Plan	Available	Not available
Unlimited Benefits Plan	No	Yes
Accidents	Yes	Yes
Illnesses	Yes	Yes
Illness Waiting Period	14 days	15 days
Accident Waiting Period	2 days	15 days
Cruciate Ligament Waiting Period	6 months (14 days with orthopedic report card)	6 months
Bilateral Conditions	Excluded	Excluded
Chronic Conditions	Yes	Yes
Hereditary and Congenital Conditions	Yes	Yes
Cancer	Yes	Yes
Dental Coverage	Yes	Yes
Prescription Medicine	Yes	Yes
Alternative/Holistic Therapy	Yes	Yes
Behavioral Issues	Yes	Yes
Exam Fees	Yes	Yes
Exam Required for Enrollment	Yes	Yes
Available At Any Vet Clinic	Yes	Yes
Microchip	Optional add-on	No
Minimum Pet Age Limit	6 weeks	6 weeks
Maximum Pet Age Limit	14 years for illnesses; No limit for accidents	No limit
Entry Fee	$25.00	$0.00
Monthly Transaction Fee	$1.00	$0.00
Multi-Pet Discount	10% for each pet policy if more than one pet is added	Not available
Claim Repayment	Within 15 days (8-9 days on average)	Within 30 days (22 on average)
Direct Vet Bill Payment	No	Not available
Money-Back Guarantee	30 days	30 days
AM Best Rating	A+	A+
BBB Rating	A+	A-

^{*companies’ features compared in February 2022}

Read the full Petplan Pet Insurance review.

GEICO vs. PetPartners

PetPartners joins the list of pet insurers who offer a 24/7 virtual vet helpline at no extra charge. They’re also affordable no matter if you opt for coverage for accidents and illnesses or accidents coverage only.

Unlike GEICO and Embrace, PetPartners don’t require a full vet exam before you enroll with them and don’t impose an entry fee either.

Feature	GECIO	PetPartners
Coverage Effective	Worldwide	USA and Canada
Reimbursement	Choice of 70%, 80%, or 90% of covered expenses	Choice of 70%, 80%, or 90% of covered expenses
Co-Payment	10%, 20%, or 30%	10%, 20%, or 30%
Deductible	$200 – $1,000	$100 – $1,000
Type of Deductible	Annual	Annual
Claim Limit Options	$5,000 – $30,000	$2,500 – Unlimited
Accident-Only Plan	Available	Available
Wellness Plan	Available	Available
Unlimited Benefits Plan	No	Yes
Accidents	Yes	Yes
Illnesses	Yes	Yes
Illness Waiting Period	14 days	14 days
Accident Waiting Period	2 days	2 days
Cruciate Ligament Waiting Period	6 months (14 days with orthopedic report card)	6 months
Bilateral Conditions	Excluded	Excluded
Chronic Conditions	Yes	Yes
Hereditary and Congenital Conditions	Yes	Optional add-on
Cancer	Yes	Yes
Dental Coverage	Yes	Accidents only
Prescription Medicine	Yes	Yes
Alternative/Holistic Therapy	Yes	Yes
Behavioral Issues	Yes	Yes
Exam Fees	Yes	Optional add-on
Exam Required for Enrollment	Yes	No
Available At Any Vet Clinic	Yes	Yes
Microchip	Optional add-on	Optional add-on
Minimum Pet Age Limit	6 weeks	8 weeks for dogs and 10 weeks for cats
Maximum Pet Age Limit	14 years for illnesses; No limit for accidents	9 years for illnesses
Entry Fee	$25.00	$0.00
Monthly Transaction Fee	$1.00	$3.00 or $4.00 (depending on the state)
Multi-Pet Discount	10% for each pet policy if more than one pet is added	5% for multiple pets
Claim Repayment	Within 15 days (8-9 days on average)	Within 14 days (7 days on average)
Direct Vet Bill Payment	No	No
Money-Back Guarantee	30 days	30 days
AM Best Rating	A+	A-
BBB Rating	A+	A+

^{*companies’ features compared in February 2022}

Read the full PetPartners Pet Insurance review.

Customer Service

When in need of some professional assistance, GEICO and Embrace certainly don’t lack reliable options in their customer support department.

To contact GEICO directly, use the following communication info:

• Phone: (800) 793-2003
• Operating Hours:
  Monday through Friday: from 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM ET
  Saturday: from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM ET
  Sundays: closed

Since Embrace is the real administrator of the pet insurance policy, we recommend that you take your issue up with them directly. Here’s their contact info:

• Customer Support: (800) 511-9172
• Fax: (800) 238-1042
• Claims Questions: askclaims@embracepetinsurance.com
• General Email: hello@embracepetinsurance.com
• Mailing Address:
  Embrace Pet Insurance
  P.O. Box 22188
  Beachwood, OH 44122-0188
• Operating Hours:
  Monday through Friday: 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM ET
  Saturday: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET for customer support and 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM ET for sales

For the fastest access to a customer support representative, there’s the Embrace pet insurance app for Android and iOS. The MyEmbrace portal is also the place where you can contact them, manage your policies, file claims, and access the PawSupport service.

Customer Reviews

We mentioned a few times that GEICO’s pet insurance is actually administered by Embrace which takes care of mostly anything connected to your policy.

So naturally, all of the online reviews about them are referring to Embrace. We’ll provide a couple of positive and negative ones here, so you could witness what real users deal with after they become a GEICO or Embrace pet policyholder.

Positive GEICO/Embrace Pet Insurance Reviews

I don’t frequently leave reviews but I’ve had Embrace Pet Insurance coverage for our puppy for the last ~8 months and can’t speak highly enough about the company. Their user friendly claims process, professionalism, and customer service are all top notch.

My biggest concerns in general while researching pet insurance were how frequently a company would fight claims and how much the yearly rate will go up (I’ll revisit this after I get next year’s updated rates).

Embrace’s claims process has been unbelievably smooth and fair.  We’ve (unfortunately) had to submit several minor claims but all were quickly approved, except one due to a questionable pre-existing condition.

We appealed it at the recommendation of our vet and Embrace’s Chief Underwriter personally responded letting me know that she agreed with our rationale and would overturn both the pre-existing condition and the original claims denial.

Great customer service and sound logic are rare these days so I’d highly encourage trusting Embrace with your pets!

Marcus B.

It blows my mind to read so many negative reviews, particularly about Embrace’s responsiveness. I have had the exact opposite experience.

When a claim was declined, and I was pissed, I spoke to/exchanged emails with six people. I was definitely not pleasant; the Embrace staff always was. The claims I was upset about were declined, but after all of the back-and-forth I completely understood why. In addition, a permanent exclusion (pre-existing condition) became temporary after I provided documentation. Since then, a dental procedure was pre-approved and a claim I submitted was processed and paid within a week.

The best thing about Embrace, though, is the 24-hour helpline. I called very late on a Sunday night and spoke to someone within three minutes. I was given advice that was a) correct and b) soothing. That alone is worth the premium.

Julie F.

Negative GEICO/Embrace Pet Insurance Reviews

Everything looks good on paper and all the fake ads and support that they get. I bought the most expensive policy they had. Try it and find out. Embrace Pet Insurance has denied 6 out of 7 of my claims to date. They claim “pre-existing” conditions for everything and find ways to link things together to make them all related. Obviously a pet’s body parts are all connected. Even after my Vet wrote to them a full statement saying that my pet did not have this pre-existing condition, they still denied my claims.

This is the usual fraudulent insurance practice to deny as many claims as possible and keep collecting premiums. Take your business elsewhere unless you want to try to fight claims all the time. Their Director of Underwriting and Claims carries a bachelors in biology and was a claim adjuster for a year before taking on the role per her LinkedIn. I can no longer claim my dog’s issues now that he really has a pre-existing condition. Good luck if you want to take this risk.

J B.

When we adopted our Golden Retriever, Embrace took several weeks to finalize his wellness check and excluded his ears, skin, and many other conditions. We have never once submitted a claim since the inception of the policy in 2018. Our premium has risen every year, but this year it increased 83%, with no claims ever submitted! An 83% increase in our premium is egregious! So now, after paying years of premiums with no benefits received, we are canceling because they said it could go up another exorbitant amount next year.

Laurie P.

Conclusion

It’s time to give closure to our extensive GEICO pet insurance review.

Covering everything about the partnership these two companies comprise (GEICO and Embrace), we came to the conclusion that by opting for not only one, but two providers that are established as the gold standard in their field of expertise, you simply can’t go wrong.

With the generous discount and savings options and the extra features they provide to make your time with them even more enjoyable, GEICO and Embrace are worth every penny when your pet’s health and wellbeing are on the line.

With that said, we’re not huge fans of their pet wellness coverage solution. There are many better alternatives for wellness care out there, and we at Protect My Paws cover them all. So, give us a visit every time you need help with providing what’s best for your beloved fur buddy.

GEICO’s Pet Insurance Alternatives

If Embrace’s customizability didn’t meet your expectations, then there’s Odie – a novice in the pet insurance industry that offers 20 different deductible options to choose from. What we love about them are their two comprehensive wellness care packages that are offered at a much more accessible price than GEICO/Embrace. And let’s not ignore that Odie too provides access to a 24/7 virtual vet helpline.

Companion Protect is one of your best bets if you’re on the search for a pet insurer that covers bilateral conditions. They would even throw in a free wellness exam without the need for a separate package (it comes included with your base pet insurance plan). What’s more, Companion Protect would never increase the price of your policy premium because your pet has become older and more needy.

Pet Assure is an alternative method to your traditional pet insurance plan. You can use it independently or combine it with your GEICO/Embrace pet coverage policy. Pet Assure coverage simply provides 25% off on your entire vet bill, no matter which veterinary services you use. Pre-existing conditions, cosmetic procedures, and grooming treatments all get the Pet Assure discount.

F.A.Q.

How does the GEICO pet insurance work? Do I get reimbursed by them or Embrace?

Embrace is in charge of handling your pet insurance policy and processing your claims. So, anytime you need to file a claim, you need to visit their online portal or access Embrace’s mobile app. Naturally, your reimbursements will be administered by Embrace, but you can always contact GEICO if you have any concerns about the process.

GEICO advertises their pet insurance coverage with prices starting as low as $1 a day. However, the online quote I generated displayed a price that’s triple that amount.

When fetching an online quote with GEICO and Embrace, you’ll be presented with multiple policy benefit options to choose from. If you pick a low deductible but high reimbursement and annual benefit levels, it’s expected that your premium will be pretty high. You should also note that your pet’s age, breed, and location have a big impact on your premium price as well.

Do I take it with GEICO or Embrace if I wish to cancel my pet insurance policy?

You can contact both insurers if you’re willing to go forward with your policy cancellation. Since Embrace is the main administrator of your pet insurance policy, GEICO may refer you to Embrace for further cancellation processing.

Should I acquire pet insurance coverage even before I adopt my new pet?

If you’re certain that the pet you want to adopt will become yours and if you know their details (age, breed, medical history records, etc.), then you can certainly apply for a GEICO/Embrace pet insurance policy. The company provides a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if things don’t go the way you hoped, you can cancel any time – no questions asked.