My Sam's Club membership has a great perk that's easy to overlook — cheap pet insurance

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• I've gotten a lot of value out of my Sam's Club membership, and it helped me save on pet insurance.
• Pets Best offered me plans starting at just $9 a month, and better plans were very affordable.
• I'm keeping the $250 deductible for my dog's pet insurance in a high-yield savings account.

I've been a Sam's Club member on and off for several years now, but I've mainly used my membership for groceries and occasional auto services. Being a member has many benefits, but one of the less obvious perks is competitive rates for pet insurance.

In 2019, we adopted our dog from a rescue shelter. She was around 2½ years old then and as joyful as can be, so we kept her adopted name, Joy. Joy is full of energy, always wants to cuddle, and never gave us any health scares until recently.

Earlier this year, I came back home from running errands on a Saturday to find Joy making a strange, hoarse, coughing noise. We took her to the vet, and while I was relieved she was OK, the almost $400 bill shocked me.

That's when I decided to look into pet insurance so I could make sure my dog could receive the best care and I'd consider it a bonus if I could be financially savvy about it.

Finding out about Pets Best

No one in my family had ever gotten pet insurance for their pets, or at least they didn't talk about it. A relative told me about a credit card specifically geared toward pet expenses, but I didn't really want to get another credit card just for pet care expenses.

A few years ago, I watched one of my relative's dogs go through a lot of health issues that required certain medications regularly. The costs really added up, but they managed to pay for everyone one way or another. Witnessing this made me realize that I wanted to insure my pets sooner rather than later since most insurance companies will cover diagnostic tests and accidents but not pre-existing conditions.

During my research, I found that Sam's Club members get a 10% discount through Pets Best . Pets Best is a leading pet insurance provider that offers coverage for accidents, illnesses, and routine coverage.

What I get with my coverage

I didn't just consider Pets Best based on the discount for being a Sam's Club member. A few things initially stood out to me like:

• Pets Best being accepted at any veterinary clinic across the U.S.
• Direct pay options to your vet so you don't have to handle those payments when getting reimbursed
• No age limits for pets
• Discounts for additional pets you insure
• Optional wellness coverage options for routine exams

First, I grabbed a quote and shopped around a bit. Pets Best offered me an accident-only coverage plan for $9 a month with a $10,000 annual limit, a $250 deductible, and 90% reimbursement.

They also offered a Plus plan for accidents and illnesses, which included coverage for lab tests, medication, prescriptions, and the exam fee associated with a diagnosis of an accident or illness.

The Elite plan for accidents and illnesses offers the highest coverage, including rehabilitative, acupuncture, and chiropractic coverage. For my personal quote, this was just a few cents more per month.

The waiting period for coverage to kick in is three days for accidents and 14 days for illnesses. The quotes I received are well below the rates offered by many of the best cheap pet insurance companies .

I'm glad to have peace of mind

I love an easy process that doesn't require extensive paperwork or phone calls. Getting Joy insured was really simple and basically took seconds. Once I got my quote, Pets Best made it easy for me to see what was and wasn't covered. Then, I was prompted to an agreement page and entered my card information.

Once my payment for the first month was processed, I received a full copy of my policy via email. Getting my dog insured was something I should have done a long time ago, but I'm thankful for options that simplify the process.

Now, we just plan to save the $250 deductible amount in a high-yield savings account so that it's ready just in case.

Pet accidents can cost thousands of dollars, and unfortunately, there are a lot of stray dogs and cats in my area, so while I do my best to keep Joy safe and healthy, some things are just outside my control. That's where pet insurance can come in handy. Having this safety net to fall back on gives me so much peace of mind.