Lemonade Pet Insurance Review

Not knowing what type of medical needs your pet will have down the road can make it hard to make room in your budget for their healthcare. 

One way to help manage unexpected vet bills is to enroll your best buddy in a pet insurance plan. If you have a dog or cat, Lemonade pet insurance may get the job done, with quick coverage available in 37 states.

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Overview of Lemonade Pet Insurance

Lemonade advertises itself as pet insurance “for the 21st century.” It’s powered by AI, with the goal of providing an easy digital experience. In addition to selling pet insurance, Lemonade also sells renters, homeowners, car, and life insurance. If you want the convenience of bundling multiple insurance policies in one place, you can do so with Lemonade — and get a 10% discount. 

Lemonade is a fully regulated and licensed insurance company, which means Lemonade prices, sells, and underwrites all its own policies. It also handles and pays out all claims itself. This makes it easy to research the company's financial stability and customer experience because there isn’t another insurance company backing them. 

If you have a dog or cat, you can purchase a pet insurance policy with Lemonade, but more exotic pet owners are out of luck. Even if you have less “exotic” animals like a rabbit, gerbil, parrot, or horse, you will need to look elsewhere for pet insurance coverage. 

What Lemonade Pet Insurance Covers

To start with Lemonade pet insurance, you will need to buy a base accident and illness policy. You can also choose to add on other plans that help with costs like physical therapy, vet visit fees, or preventative care.

The accident and illness policy can help cover costs relating to:

• Medications
• Hospitalizations
• Procedures
• Diagnostics
• Illnesses
• Infections
• Chronic conditions
• Infestations

It’s important to note that when it comes to this base plan, coverage only applies to new accidents and illnesses, not preexisting conditions. 

To give your pet even more coverage, you can purchase one or both of the following add-ons:

• Preventative and Wellness package: This covers costs for preventative care like vaccines, bloodwork, and annual wellness exams.
• Extended Accident and Illness package: This covers treatments that help with functionality issues such as physical therapy and acupuncture.

Learn more about Lemonade pet insurance.

What Lemonade Pet Insurance Doesn't Cover

When enrolling in a pet insurance plan, you want to pay equal attention to what the plan doesn’t cover. For example, the Lemonade base plan does not cover dental care or elective surgeries. This plan also will not help with any expenses related to care caused by your own neglect. 

It’s worth noting that Lemonade only offers a base accident-and-illness plan. Many pet insurance companies also offer an accident-only plan, which can be a better option for pet parents on a tight budget. 

Also, as of publishing, Lemonade pet insurance is not available in the following states: Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

How Lemonade Pet Insurance Works

All pet insurance companies manage their operations in their own unique way. When researching which insurer is right for you, you will want to pay close attention to how enrollment, waiting periods, and other elements of the customer experience work. 

Here's how Lemonade fares in these categories:

Enrollment

If you like an old-fashioned people-first approach, you may not love the Lemonade enrollment process, since you can only sign up through Lemonade's website or mobile app. However, if you are okay with online-only enrollment, the process is fairly quick and painless. 

Medical records

Whenever you sign up for a new pet insurance plan, you will need to provide the insurer with your pet’s medical records so they can get an idea of what preexisting conditions your pet has.

With Lemonade, you will need to provide medical records that cover the last 12½ months of your pet’s life. The exception to this rule is if your pet is less than a year old, in which case you only need to provide records from birth through the illness waiting period. 

Waiting period

You will almost always have to wait a certain amount of time after enrollment in a pet insurance plan for your coverage to kick in. The waiting periods begin on the policy’s start date.

With Lemonade’s pet insurance, the waiting periods are as follows:

• Accidents: 2 days
• Illnesses: 14 days
• Cruciate ligament events: 6 months

Chances are, nothing bad will befall your sweet pet during the waiting period, but if longer waiting periods make you nervous, you may want to look for an insurer that provides a shorter waiting period for cruciate ligament events. Some insurers will also waive this waiting period with an exam.

A 14-day illness waiting period is pretty standard wait time, though, as is two days for accidents. 

Filing claims

Once your coverage does kick in, you can file a claim whenever you need to. The way claims work with Lemonade is that you will pay your vet bill upfront. Then you will file a claim using the Lemonade app and wait for approval.

If Lemonade approves the claim, they will deposit your reimbursement directly into your bank account — minus the cost of your deductible. 

Preexisting conditions

If your pet has a preexisting medical condition, don’t expect Lemonade (or many other pet insurance companies) to cover treatments and prescriptions relating to that illness or injury. If your pet shows any signs of a preexisting condition before the waiting period ends, you won’t receive any help covering costs related to it. 

Some pet insurance companies will allow coverage for a preexisting condition after an extended period (often a year) with no symptoms or care required, but that does not appear to be the case with Lemonade’s pet insurance. 

Discounts

Insurance companies tend to offer a variety of discounts, including on pet insurance products. Lemonade offers two different potential discounts with pet insurance.

To start, you can save 10% if you bundle your pet insurance policy with another Lemonade insurance plan. You can also save 5% on pet insurance if you insure multiple pets and 5% if you pay annually. 

Policy changes and cancellations

Enrolling in pet insurance is not a lifelong commitment. If you ever feel you need to cancel your Lemonade pet insurance policy for whatever reason, you can do so at any time through the Lemonade app. 

A word of warning — if you cancel your plan and decide to enroll your pet again later, the waiting periods will start over and any illnesses diagnosed during your last enrollment period will count as preexisting conditions. Once you cancel, you will receive a refund for the remaining period you already paid for. 

Veterinarian options

With a Lemonade pet insurance plan, you can choose to get your pet care from any licensed veterinarian in the U.S., so don’t worry about accidentally going out of network like you can with human healthcare. 

Learn more about Lemonade pet insurance.

Alternatives to Lemonade Pet Insurance

Even if Lemonade’s pet insurance plans appeal to you, it never hurts to research a handful of different pet insurance companies before committing to one. 

Ideally, you want to request a quote from at least three companies to get an idea of which one will provide you with the most coverage for the best price. Don’t forget to look into potential discounts, cancelation policies, waiting periods, and coverage details. 

Here’s how a few popular competitors stack up to Lemonade pet insurance:

Lemonade vs. Trupanion

If you want to save as much money as possible, Lemonade offers a better variety of discounts than Trupanion. While Lemonade offers a 5% multiple pet discount, 5% annual payment discount, and a 10% bundling discount, Trupanion only offers a 5% discount for pet owners of assistance animals.

However, Trupanion coverage is more widely available than Lemonade. You can enroll in a Trupanion plan in any state in the U.S.

Where Trupanion really has Lemonade beat is with the way they handle claim payouts. Trupanion is capable of issuing payments directly to your vet when you check out so you don’t have to wait for reimbursement. There are no limits on payouts, so if your claim is approved, you will receive coverage immediately.

Because the whole point of pet insurance is to take the financial strain of unexpected vet bills off your plate, this automatic claim payment process is a really enticing feature.

Like Lemonade, Trupanion pet insurance coverage is only available for cats and dogs, so if you have a more exotic pet, you need to look elsewhere for coverage.

Lemonade vs. Pumpkin

If you suspect your pet may one day need alternative therapies like physical therapy (do some research on your pet’s breed and what conditions they commonly struggle with), then Pumpkin may be a great fit for you.

While you need to purchase an add-on with Lemonade for assistance in this area, alternative therapy coverage is included in the Pumpkin base plans for dogs and cats.

Like Trupanion, Pumpkin is available in all 50 states, so this is another solid option if Lemonade does not issue pet insurance policies where you live. 

For extra cautious parents, you can rest easy knowing Pumpkin has a much shorter waiting period for cruciate ligament injuries (14 days) compared to Lemonade's six months. If you decide Pumpkin is the better fit for your pet, get ready to spend some time on the phone or computer — unlike Lemonade, Pumpkin does not have a mobile app.

Pumpkin offers an impressive 90% reimbursement rate on approved claims, which can help alleviate some of the financial pressure associated with pet ownership. You also don’t need to worry about spending more on additional coverage — the base plan includes all covered conditions and types of care. 

Lemonade vs. Spot

Spot offers some pretty heavy competition as it also has a 90% reimbursement rate. And if you insure more than one cat or dog, you can qualify for a 10% multiple discount, which is double the Lemonade discount.

Spot is available in all 50 states and you can choose to visit any licensed U.S. or Canadian vet. You can also access a 24/7 pet telehealth hotline if you are worried about your pet.

When it comes time to submit a claim with Spot, you have options. You can file claims online, via mobile app, or by fax. You also have a lot of flexibility when it comes to plan coverage. You can choose between an accident-only or an accident-and-illness plan to start. There is also an option to add teeth cleanings and preventive care coverage to your base plan.

You won’t have to worry about incident or lifetime caps and you can choose to purchase an unlimited annual coverage option.

Final Thoughts

If you want a no-fuss pet insurance plan for your dog or cat, then Lemonade may be the right option for you. It offers fast claim payouts and add-on options for preventative and extended care, so it should cover most of your pet care needs.

However, Lemonade pet insurance is limited to 37 states, doesn't cover exotic pets, and is online-only. So, if you live outside its service area, have anything other than a cat or dog, and prefer human service, then other providers may be a better option.

Take some time to think carefully about how much coverage you need and how much you can afford to spend to design the right plan for your pet.

Learn more about Lemonade pet insurance.

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