Nationwide Pet Insurance Review

Best for Exotic Pets

If you own what insurers consider an exotic animal — a guinea pig, a parrot, a bearded dragon, a mini pig — finding coverage is hard. Nationwide is the only major U.S. pet insurer that writes policies for birds, reptiles, rabbits, ferrets and small mammals, which is the main reason it appears on our list of the best pet insurance companies.

Nationwide Pet Insurance Pros and Cons

Pros Explained

The only major insurer covering birds and exotic pets

Most pet insurance companies cover dogs and cats and stop there. Nationwide covers birds, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, mini pigs and goats, lizards, reptiles and amphibians, with condition lists written for those animals specifically — feather picking and excessive egg-laying for birds, overgrown teeth and dehydration for small mammals, internal parasites and respiratory infections for reptiles. If you own an exotic pet, Nationwide is effectively the market.

One catch: you can quote and buy dog and cat coverage online, but exotic pet policies require a phone call to 844-397-8937.

Modular plan design lets you buy only the coverage you want

Nationwide's current retail product is built in pieces. You start with accident coverage — broken bones, poisoning, heatstroke, lacerations, hit-by-car — and then decide whether to add illness coverage, a hereditary and congenital conditions rider, a cruciate rider (available after your first year of coverage) and a wellness rider for routine care. You also choose your annual limit, from $2,500 to $10,000, and your reimbursement rate, from 50% to 80%. That's a meaningful amount of control over your monthly premium, and accident-only coverage starts at $11 a month for a dog or cat and $5 a month for an exotic pet.

The annual deductible is $250 on the Modular plan and applies once across your accident and illness coverage rather than separately to each.

Prescription savings, a vet helpline and a Petco discount

Nationwide bundles three benefits into every policy that most competitors don't match:

• Nationwide PetRxExpress gives you preferred pricing on pet medications at any in-store Walmart or Sam's Club pharmacy, and submits the claim for you automatically.
• Nationwide VetHelpline is unlimited 24/7 access to licensed veterinary professionals through an app — useful for the 11 p.m. question about whether what your dog just ate warrants an emergency visit.
• Petco Vetco discount: 10% off services at more than 280 Vetco Total Care hospitals and roughly 1,450 weekly mobile Vetco vaccination clinics. The discount applies to everything in the visit, including services your policy wouldn't reimburse.

Cons Explained

Annual limits cap out at $10,000

Whole Pet and the top Modular configuration both max out at $10,000 in annual benefits. Several competitors offer unlimited annual coverage. For a routine year that ceiling is irrelevant; for a cancer diagnosis or a complex orthopedic surgery at a specialty hospital, it can bind.

Major Medical uses a per-condition benefit schedule

Nationwide's Major Medical plan doesn't reimburse a straight percentage against an annual cap. It pays defined benefits per condition, from a published schedule. That approach can leave you short if you live where veterinary costs run high or your pet's case is unusually severe. The Modular, Whole Pet and employer plans all use conventional annual limits instead, so this is a reason to look past Major Medical rather than past Nationwide.

Exotic coverage is phone-only

You can't quote, compare or buy avian and exotic coverage on the website. For the one category where Nationwide has no real competition, that's a friction point — and it means you're buying on a call center's hours.

Nationwide Pet Insurance Plans

Nationwide sells three plans directly to consumers and two more through employer benefit programs.

Modular Pet Insurance Plan

This is the plan most new customers will buy. Accident coverage is the base; illness coverage, a congenital and hereditary rider, a cruciate rider and wellness are add-ons. Choose an annual limit between $2,500 and $10,000, a reimbursement rate between 50% and 80% (available rates vary with your pet's age), and pay a $250 annual deductible that applies once across accident and illness.

Pets must be at least eight weeks old to enroll. New enrollment in illness coverage is limited to dogs and cats eight years and younger; accident coverage has no upper age limit.

Major Medical and Major Medical with Wellness

Major Medical covers accidents and illnesses on a defined per-condition benefit schedule with a $250 annual deductible. The "with Wellness" version adds routine care — exams, vaccinations, flea and heartworm preventives, bloodwork and urinalysis. New enrollment is open to dogs and cats nine years and younger, and pets must be at least six weeks old.

Whole Pet

Whole Pet is Nationwide's broadest single plan: accidents, illnesses, hereditary and congenital conditions, and cancer treatment, with a $10,000 annual limit, a $250 annual deductible and a choice of 50% or 70% reimbursement. Wellness coverage is not available on Whole Pet.

My Pet Protection and My Pet Protection Choice

Both are sold only through employer benefit programs. My Pet Protection pays 50% or 70% against a $7,500 annual limit with a $250 deductible. My Pet Protection Choice is the more flexible of the two: 50% to 80% reimbursement, a $5,000 annual limit, and deductibles from $100 to $1,000 — the widest deductible range Nationwide offers anywhere. If your employer offers pet insurance, check this plan before quoting retail. You can search for your employer on Nationwide's site.

Avian and exotic pet coverage

Exotic pets are written on the Modular plan, Whole Pet or My Pet Protection Choice rather than as a separate product.

• Modular: 50%–80% reimbursement, $250 deductible, $1,500–$3,000 annual limit, from $5/mo.
• Whole Pet: 50% or 70%, $250 deductible, $10,000 annual limit, from $17–$23/mo.
• Wellness: available for birds only, at $300 or $500 in annual benefits. Nationwide does not currently offer wellness coverage for non-avian exotics.

Pets must be at least eight weeks old. Ineligible species include venomous or poisonous animals, endangered or threatened species, anything requiring a permit or license to own, anything illegal to own in your state, hybrids of domestic and wild species, and animals kept in flocks or on display.

To quote or buy, call 844-397-8937.

Optional wellness coverage

Wellness is a rider, not a standalone policy, and it pays defined benefits per service — an annual exam, vaccinations or titers, microchipping, fecal tests, flea and heartworm preventives, and an annual health screen. Dogs and cats can choose $450 or $800 in maximum annual benefits; bird owners choose $300 or $500. Wellness riders are not available in every state.

Member Benefits

Every Nationwide pet insurance policy includes:

• Always There Pet Care — use any licensed veterinarian, including specialists and emergency hospitals, anywhere in the world. No network.
• Nationwide VetHelpline — unlimited 24/7 access to licensed veterinary professionals via app.
• Nationwide PetRxExpress — preferred pricing on pet prescriptions at in-store Walmart and Sam's Club pharmacies, with claims submitted automatically.
• Petco Vetco discount — 10% off veterinary services at Vetco Total Care hospitals and Vetco vaccination clinics.
• Digital claims — submit online or in the app; members who opt into electronic reimbursement have covered claims deposited straight to their bank account.

Waiting period: most plans begin 1 to 14 days after your application is approved and payment processes; Nationwide's dog plans carry a 14-day waiting period. Group and employer enrollments can differ.

What isn't covered: pre-existing conditions, boarding, grooming, waste disposal, tax and other non-medical charges. Nationwide will review a pre-existing condition that has been cured and may add an exception so it becomes covered — a policy worth asking about that most insurers don't offer.

Nationwide Financial Stability

AM Best, the credit rating agency that evaluates insurers' ability to pay future claims, rates Nationwide A+ (Superior).

Nationwide's pet business is underwritten by Veterinary Pet Insurance Company and National Casualty Company, both Nationwide subsidiaries. The company says it insures more than a million pets and has been writing pet coverage for over four decades — it launched the first pet insurance policy in the U.S. in 1982.

Nationwide Accessibility

Availability

Nationwide is licensed in all 50 states, but not every plan is sold in every state, and wellness riders in particular have state restrictions. What you can buy depends on where you live.

Contact information

Numbers differ by product:

• Modular Pet Insurance Plan, My Pet Protection, My Pet Protection Choice: 1-888-899-4874
• Major Medical and Whole Pet: 1-877-263-6008
• Avian and exotic pets: 844-397-8937
• Existing policyholders: manage your policy at my.petinsurance.com

Note that while phone support runs business hours, the VetHelpline itself is genuinely 24/7, which covers the scenario most pet owners actually need after hours.

User experience

Nationwide's site has improved since our last review. It now offers a state-by-state coverage lookup, a condition-level coverage explorer with worked reimbursement examples, published exclusion lists and an online quote flow for dogs and cats. It still doesn't offer downloadable sample policies, which competitors do and which remains the fastest way to read actual policy language before buying — and exotic coverage still can't be quoted online at all.

Coverage limitations

Nationwide covers dogs, cats, birds and exotic animals. Ineligible: venomous animals, endangered or threatened species, animals requiring permits or licenses, species illegal to own under state or federal law, hybrids of domesticated pets and wild species, animals kept in flocks or on display, and any species not specifically listed as covered.

Cancellation

You can cancel at any time through my.petinsurance.com. Your state may provide a free-look period allowing a full refund if you haven't filed a claim; timeframes vary by state.

Nationwide Customer Satisfaction

Based on reviews and rankings, it's difficult to get a reliable read on how well Nationwide satisfies its pet insurance customers. That segment of its business isn’t detailed in customer reviews by JD Power. Sites like TrustPilot or the Better Business Bureau lack relevant data. Nationwide is, however, accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

How We Evaluated Nationwide Pet Insurance

To evaluate Nationwide’s pet insurance, we examined the following factors:

• Plan options
• Cost and available discounts
• Annual reimbursement limits
• Policy exclusions and restrictions
• Wellness benefits
• Customer service options
• Customer reviews
• Third-party ratings

We also compared Nationwide to other major insurers and reviewed third-party ratings.