This is a chart with most of the companies to compare benefits from March 2013....
http://veterinarybusiness.dvm360.com...64/article.pdf
The Consumer Reports has these tips from 2011:
*Download and read the company's sample policy, including its terms and conditions. Watch for limitations, cost-sharing, and service fees. Most policies require deductibles, co-pays, or both. Look for coverage with simple, percentage-based payouts and no reliance on judgments of what's "reasonable."
*Watch for what's excluded. No pet insurance covers pre-existing conditions. Carriers often exclude hip dysplasia, a chronic malady. QuickCare Gold won't cover any illness claims for Chinese shar-peis or their crossbreeds, though it will cover accidents. VPI has its own long list of excluded conditions. Some insurers will exclude a newly diagnosed ailment when the policy is renewed or charge you more to avoid such exclusions. An insurer also might impose a maximum limit on treatment for individual illnesses, or on the yearly or lifetime reimbursement.
*Avoid riders for wellness care, which we found are generally not worth the price.
* If you plan to use the insurance for catastrophic coverage—say, $1,000 and up—go for the highest deductible you can comfortably afford.
*Don't be caught off guard by premium increases, which can vary by state. Insurers may base their hikes on a pet's age, veterinary cost inflation, or other factors. Trupanion, the company that performed best overall in our New York example here and in our test with the two cats, recently raised its premiums an average of 52 percent in parts of California. The company, which projects payouts of 69 cents of every dollar collected, says it adjusts premiums according to veterinary inflation and the scope of available treatments.