Do All Pet Insurance Companies Change Premium When You Move?

[Guest lemon]

I have Healthy Paws for Tosh and up until this point I've been happy with them. I picked them because of their good reviews and because the cost was reasonable since I knew that as he got older my premiums would probably increase. Well I just moved (from one city in California to another city in California) and put in my new address and it caused my monthly premium to jump almost $7 for an increase of almost 18%. And that doesn't include the upcoming rate increase I got an email about. Do all pet insurance companies tie their premiums to your geographic location and change it if you move? I don't remember reading anything about this when I signed up though I could have missed it.

[MP_the4pack]

I can't say for sure, and moving within a state seems odd to raise rates.

 

But rates can change from state to state. Simply because vet care in the northeast like NJ, Mass, NY is way more expensive than say KS or OK or Nebraska.

 

But within a state I can't help. Why not call? I'd be interested to hear what they say.

[Guest lemon]

I did call them and they said it's tied to zip code/cost of living which I understand. It's the huge percentage of that increase that surprised me since I never expected to have to deal with this large of a premium jump and I'll have a rate increase on top of it. If my salary were also getting a cost of living increase with the move it wouldn't be a big deal but of course that's not the case.

[Feisty49]

I'd also be upset at the percentage increase but it does make sense. Vet costs in New York state probably have a wide variance with those living around the New York City area paying more for services than someone who lives in the middle of the Adirondacks.

[vjgrey]

This has been my ONLY complaint about our insurance (Healthy Paws). They raised our rates when we moved, literally, two miles down the road. We changed zipcodes because we moved from the county into the city proper, but we're still in exactly the same area with exactly the same vets/specialists.

[Zoolady]

I also heard it depends on how many specialists there are available in your area. Here we have specialists that do oncology, orthopedics, heart, kidney and even one that all they do is eye surgery like cataracts, etc. Like Feisty49 says, Adirondacks, not so much.

[gracegirl]

I also experienced a rate increase with Healthy Paws when I moved from Denver to San Diego. It was nominal (about $5) and it didn't surprise me at all.