Banfield Pet Insurance Review 2025

Banfield Pet Insurance Review 2025

Banfield Pet Hospital offers Optimum Wellness Plans, which provide preventive care services at their locations across the United States. Unlike traditional pet insurance, these plans focus on routine care and do not cover accidents or illnesses.

Overview

Banfield’s Optimum Wellness Plans offer a unique approach to pet care, focusing on preventative measures. These plans can be a good choice for pet owners seeking coverage for regular checkups, vaccinations, and certain diagnostic tests, but it’s essential to understand their limitations. They do not cover the treatment of injuries or illnesses.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Potential savings on preventive care.
• Standalone wellness plan option.
• 24/7 veterinary chat service.
• No deductibles.

Cons:

• Limited to Banfield pet hospitals.
• No coverage for accidents or illnesses.
• Enrollment fee.
• Plan may continue after cancellation without specific actions.

Choose a Banfield wellness plan IF…

You’re seeking a plan primarily for routine and preventive care, rather than coverage for accidents or illnesses.

About Banfield Pet Insurance

Banfield, a chain of veterinary hospitals throughout the U.S., doesn’t actually sell pet insurance policies. Instead, they provide wellness plans called Optimum Wellness Plans (OWPs) that cover preventive care services at their clinics. These plans offer various options for puppies, kittens, and adult dogs and cats. Depending on the plan, services covered could include office visits, telemedicine consultations, vaccinations, dental cleanings, deworming, and spay/neuter procedures. However, it’s critical to remember that these plans do not cover injuries, illnesses, or emergency treatments.

A Banfield plan could be right for you if you live near a Banfield hospital and anticipate utilizing numerous preventive care services for your pet. If you’re seeking financial protection for unexpected vet bills due to illness or injury, it makes more sense to explore options for traditional pet insurance.

Banfield Plans and Coverage

Banfield offers a variety of wellness packages with different levels of coverage to choose from. All plans offer access to Banfield’s 24-hour live chat service, enabling pet owners to seek advice from veterinary professionals.

Wellness Plans for Adult Dogs and Cats

Banfield offers three primary plans for adult pets:

• Active Care: This base plan covers unlimited office visits, two virtual visits per year, a nutrition coaching session, two comprehensive wellness exams with teeth, heart, and coat evaluations, routine vaccinations, preventive diagnostic tests, fecal exams, deworming medications, a 10% discount on select products and services not included in the plan, and interstate health certificates.
• Active Care Plus: This plan adds a urine test plus an annual professional dental cleaning to the base plan benefits. The discount on other Banfield services extends to 15%.
• Special Care: This all-inclusive package builds upon the Active Care Plus plan and incorporates preventative X-rays and additional diagnostic tests. It also bumps up the discount on other Banfield products and services to 20%.

Wellness Plans for Puppies and Kittens

Banfield also provides plans specifically tailored for younger pets:

• Early Care: Similar to the base adult plan, this covers unlimited office visits and two virtual visits; also, a coaching session on nutrition, two comprehensive wellness exams including teeth, heart and coat evaluations, routine vaccinations, diagnostic testing for issues like leukemia (kittens) or heartworm (puppies), fecal exams, and deworming medications. It includes a 5% discount on most excluded services and offers interstate health certificates.
• Early Care Plus: This plan includes a 10% discount on excluded services and coverage for spay or neuter surgery.

Optional Add-ons

Additional services that may be added to your Banfield plan include:

• Parasite medications to prevent ticks, fleas, and heartworm.
• Spay or neuter coverage for adult dogs and cats.
• Canine DNA tests (included in puppy plans).

What’s Not Covered

Banfield plans do not cover any services outside what is specifically listed in the plan details. Most importantly, they do not provide coverage for the treatment of any accident or illness. Even if a preventive test reveals a serious condition like cancer, the plan won’t cover the treatments.

Banfield Wellness Plan vs. Pet Insurance

The main difference between Banfield wellness plans and standard pet insurance is the scope of coverage. Pet insurance focuses on unforeseen costs related to injuries and illnesses, while Banfield wellness plans spread out the expense of expected costs for preventive care. Pet insurance generally requires you to pay upfront and then file for reimbursement, but Banfield wellness plans avoid that process for services included in your plan. Also, Banfield plans put limitations on covered services. For instance, there is a limit on the number of virtual visits possible. Most pet insurance plans are also more flexible because they allow you to use any licensed veterinarian, where Banfield plans require you to visit a Banfield location.

Restrictions and Waiting Periods

• Age Restrictions: Puppy and kitten plans are restricted to pets under six months old. Banfield has no maximum or minimum age for enrollment in other plans.
• Waiting Periods: There is no waiting period because you must activate the plan in-person at a Banfield hospital for it to start.

Banfield Sample Rates

The cost of Banfield wellness plans is based on your location and the type of pet you have. Below are sample rates from Banfield for mixed-breed dogs and cats across several cities:

Sample Monthly Rates for Dogs:

• Denver: $53
• Grand Rapids, Mich.: $51
• Jacksonville, Fla.: $48
• Jersey City, N.J.: $53
• Katy, Texas: $53
• Los Angeles: $62
• New York: $68
• Seattle: $62

Sample Monthly Rates for Cats:

• Denver: $49
• Grand Rapids, Mich.: $47
• Jacksonville, Fla.: $45
• Jersey City, N.J.: $60
• Katy, Texas: $49
• Los Angeles: $57
• New York: $63
• Seattle: $57

Banfield’s wellness plans have enrollment fees, in addition to monthly costs.

Banfield Discounts

Banfield provides a $15 discount on the enrollment fee for those who already have an OWP and enroll another pet. Plan members also can save 5% to 20% on many non-covered Banfield products and services, depending on their OWP.

State Availability

Banfield wellness plans are available at Banfield hospitals in every state except Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Availability is subject to change.

Consumer Experience

• Website: The Banfield website provides options to get quotes, locate hospitals, and access information about pet health. You can log in to your online account to see plan details, view medical records, and use a 24/7 vet chat.
• App: The Banfield mobile app (available for iOS and Android) allows you to access your pet’s medical records, chat with a vet or customer service rep, locate Banfield hospitals, and review plan details.
• Claims: Unlike pet insurance, Banfield plans do not require you to submit claims for reimbursement.
• Customer Service: For general questions, contact Banfield by calling or texting 888-649-2716 or emailing [email protected].

Getting a Quote

To get a quote, you’ll first indicate whether you’ve visited a Banfield hospital before. If you have an online account, you can log in to speed things up. If not, you can proceed as a guest. You’ll be asked for information about your pet, including its breed, weight, and birthday. After selecting a Banfield location, options for wellness plans will be displayed, including the monthly and annual cost of each.

The Next screen will display add-on choices.

Once add-on choices are finalized, there will be a cost breakdown, including what is due at the first appointment. After this point, Banfield will request personal information to continue the enrollment process, though it must be finalized in person.

Frequently Asked Question

How do I cancel a Banfield wellness plan?

You can cancel your Banfield plan by calling 888-649-2716. But you may have to pay them even if you cancel, depending on how much of your plan’s services you’ve used.

Does Banfield wellness plan cover emergency visits?

Banfield’s plans cover preventive care, not emergency treatment. An emergency Banfield office visit counts as one of your unlimited office visits under the plan, but any medication or treatment wouldn’t be covered.

Is Banfield pet insurance worth it?

It depends. If you use all the plan’s services, the overall cost could be less than paying out of pocket. However, you need to use most or all of those services to realize that value. Also, consider the enrollment fee when evaluating the overall cost. If your pet doesn’t need diagnostic testing and only sees the vet once for a checkup and a couple of vaccines, it could be cheaper to pay for their care.