My strong recommendation is that you DO NOT purchase ASPCA Pet Insurance (actually operated by Hartville Pet Insurance). They will happlily accept your premiums and then just as happily deny your claims based on "pre-existing condions" using every trick in the book to do so. When they're unable to claim pre-existing conditions, they will minimize the payment based on some ludicrous schedule of payments "in your area" that has no basis in reality. Here is my actual experiences, summarized:

1. Purchased annual policy effective June 2004. This made my annual renewal date June 1st of each year.

2. Paid premiums monthly. Almost all of my claims were nullified by the deductible. When I actually had a service performed by a vet that exceeded the deductible, the insurance adjuster came up with the most ridiculous "reasonable & average" cost for the procedure (which was LESS THAN ONE HALF of what my vet charged (and I checked 4 different vets in my area - all were about the same), and then subtracted my deductable from that. ON A $275 CLAIM, I RECEIVED A CHECK FOR $34.

3. The most outrageous element of their scam occurred when my dog was diagnosed with cancer in May of 2008. The vet scheduled the removal of a malignant tumor for the first week of June. The cost was over $2,400 for the surgery. MY CLAIM WAS DENIED BECAUSE THEY CLAIMED THAT BY JUNE OF 2008 (one week after the policy renewed), THE CANCER WAS A " PRE-EXISTING CONDITION" (i.e. it existed in the prior policy year, which was actually 2 weeks prior).

Only the actual filing of a lawsuit by my attorney got this scam shop to pay my claim (and again, only half the actual cost).

I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU CONSIDER THESE ISSUES BEFORE PURCHASING A POLICY FROM THIS COMPANY!

Health insurance for your pets? Are you kidding me?

While I am a supporter of the ASPCA, I have to say that at this time I would highly not recommend their pet health insurance plan. Based on my (albeit limited) experience with their company, I find that they seem disorganized and, as most insurance companies are, very unwilling to pay legitimate claims. A client of ours had come in with a pet for an issue that was not based on a pre-existing condition. We filled out her paperwork and gave it to her to submit the claim. The event was only memorable in that the owner was extremely anxious that every detail be covered, stating that her insurance company constantly denied claims. On Sept. 26 we have received a fax from the insurance company requesting records, which is not unusual. I sent the records and a letter stating that the visit did not pertain to any pre-existing condition nor any complications arising from the listed pre-existing conditions, signed by our doctor. October 2, I received two somewhat confused calls from the company asking for our fax number. We have provided it, and I received the same fax that I had received on the 26th requesting the same information. I called the company, spoke to the claims representative listed and she told me that she had received all pages of the fax that I had sent on the 26th. This Saturday, the owner of the pet called to report that the company has told her that we have not submitted the requested forms and are denying her the coverage for the visit stating that it was for a pre-existing condition. I called them yesterday, again, after sending the paperwork again, spoke directly to the new claims processor to let her know how concerned I was that they are telling the client that they haven't received the paperwork when I spoke to [insert name of previous claims processor] on the 2nd at [insert time that the call took place; yes, I document these things] and she informed me that she had received my fax. The new claims processor confirmed that they have received the fax from 9/26. It got to the point where she read the letter to me to prove that she had it (I was feeling a little annoyed at the whole thing, as I've spent well over 4 hours on this one claim when it should have been well taken care of already, and I don't entirely appreciate being portrayed as the one who "dropped the ball" when it's not the case), and I informed her that I would be calling the owner to let her know of the conversation and am advising her to call them immediately back to speak directly to her (which I did). Safe to say, based on my experience, if I were to choose a health insurance company for my pet, this would not be my first choice.