Does Pet Insurance Cover Medications and Prescriptions?

There's a decent chance a vet will prescribe medication to help your pet at some point in their life. While giving your pet medicine may be a challenge, paying for it doesn’t have to be. MetLife Pet Insurance can typically reimburse you for prescriptions and medications related to covered conditions.¹

Let’s explore how veterinary prescription coverage works, the kinds of medications that may be covered, those that are usually excluded, and potential costs. 

MetLife Pet Insurance Offers Coverage for Pet Prescriptions

With a MetLife Pet plan, you could be reimbursed up to 90% of the cost of vet-prescribed medications.¹ But there are two key things to know about getting your pet’s medicine covered by MetLife Pet Insurance:

1. A vet has to prescribe the medication.
2. The prescription must be to treat or manage a condition that’s covered by your policy.

Most pet insurance plans provide coverage for veterinary prescriptions and medications, but your specific coverage can vary depending on your insurance provider and selected plan.

For example, if you have an accident-only plan, medications are only coverable if they would help treat your pet when they’re injured — but not when they’re sick. MetLife Pet offers an accident and illness plan, so you can have coverage for medications when your pet is injured and sick.

Does MetLife Pet Insurance cover prescription food?

Prescription pet food can be fed to your furry companion to help treat or manage food sensitivities, chronic conditions, weight issues, and more. Like prescription medications, MetLife Pet Insurance offers coverage for prescription pet food. Similarly, you’ll need to have a vet prescribe it for a covered medical condition.

What Kinds of Medication Can Be Covered?

Cats and dogs may need medicine for any number of reasons — from allergies and upset stomachs to broken bones and kidney disease. They may only need prescription medications one time, or they might require lifelong medication to manage a chronic illness. Additionally, your vet may administer the medication themselves or send you home with a prescription.

A MetLife Pet plan may be able to help you cover the costs of vet-prescribed medications, like:

• Antibiotics, antifungals, and anti-inflammatories
• Pain, allergy, and anxiety medications
• Insulin for diabetes
• Specific medications for treating illnesses (like cancer, asthma, or heart disease)
• Eye and ear drops
• Holistic care medicine (like vitamins, supplements, and herbal remedies)

Certain over-the-counter (OTC) medicines for your pet might fall under your coverage if your vet prescribes them to treat a covered condition.

Does MetLife Pet Insurance cover flea and tick medication?

Flea and tick prevention medications can be expensive. But they’re crucial to protecting your pet from parasites and diseases. Alongside heartworm prevention coverage, MetLife Pet’s optional Preventive Care plan can help you cover the costs of flea, tick, and other parasite prevention medication.

Exclusions to Prescription Medication Coverage

Many pet prescriptions can be covered by pet insurance. But knowing the exclusions can be helpful in ensuring you get the right plan for you. MetLife Pet typically won’t provide coverage for medications under the following conditions:

• If the medication wasn’t prescribed by a vet
• If the medication is related to something that’s not covered by your policy, like a cosmetic procedure
• If the medication is for routine care, like parasite prevention — unless you get optional coverage that includes this
• If the condition the medication is for is considered a pre-existing condition

If your pet needs prescription medication to treat a pre-existing condition, you may still be able to get it covered by MetLife Pet in certain circumstances.²

If that condition and its medication are currently covered by another provider and you switch to a MetLife Pet group policy, without a gap in coverage, you could still get coverage for costs related to the condition and medication under your new MetLife Pet plan.²

Veterinary Prescription Costs and Savings

Prescription medications for your furry friend can add up quickly. The overall cost of prescription medications depends on which medicine(s) your pet needs, the dosage, your location, where you buy the medicine from, and the length of time your pet needs to take it.

Looking at various online pet pharmacy stores, you can see that medication costs could range from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. But these stores don’t carry the kind of medication your pet can only get at the veterinarian, like certain chemotherapy medicine, which could reach thousands of dollars.

Here are some examples of how much cat and dog medications cost different pet families — some are one-time purchases and others are recurring — and how much these families were reimbursed because of their MetLife Pet policy.^1,3

Pet insurance could be worth it to help with the cost of both short- and long-term medications. Enrolling your pet when they’re younger or healthier can help you avoid pre-existing condition exclusions later on when they need medicine.

Get Pet Medication Coverage With MetLife Pet Insurance

Pet medications often follow veterinarian visits. And while it can be a relief to know what’s going on with your pet, medication to help them feel better might put a dent in your bank account.

With a pet insurance policy from MetLife Pet, you could get money back on vet-prescribed medication — even parasite prevention meds through our Preventive Care plan add-on.

The cost of prescriptions shouldn’t be a barrier to helping your pet get better when they’re sick or hurt. Enroll them in a customized plan today to help you save on future medications. Start with a free quote.