Usually not. A standard accident and illness pet insurance policy pays for injuries and sickness, and spaying, neutering and vaccines are planned, routine care. To get help with those, you’d need wellness coverage, either added to an insurance policy or bought as a separate wellness plan. Based on national averages, wellness coverage added about $578 a year for dogs and $424 a year for cats in 2025.
Whether that’s a good deal depends on what your own pet’s routine care costs. Here’s how the two kinds of wellness coverage work, what they cost, and how to check if one would pay for itself.
Why regular pet insurance doesn’t cover spaying or shots
Spaying and shots are planned costs you can budget for, and accident and illness plans only pay for injuries and sickness you can’t predict.
Pet insurance is built for bills you can’t see coming. The North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) describes an accident and illness plan as “accident benefits plus illnesses such as cancer, infections, digestive problems, etc.” A spay appointment or a rabies shot falls outside both, because you know it’s coming and can budget for it.
State regulators say the same. The Alabama Department of Insurance warns that not all pet insurance plans cover preventive care or elective procedures. Its checklist of questions to ask before you buy includes “Does the policy cover annual wellness exams?” and “What about spaying or neutering charges?” Those are worth asking of any policy you’re comparing.
Wellness add-ons vs. wellness plans
There are two ways to get help with routine care, and they aren’t the same thing.
A wellness add-on is extra coverage built into, or bolted onto, a pet insurance policy. The Pet Insurance Model Act written by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) says wellness benefits included in a pet insurance policy are insurance, so they’re part of the policy contract.
A wellness plan is a separate program. Some are sold by insurers, and the Alabama department notes that some vet offices offer their own wellness plans for things like vaccinations and exams. The NAIC model law treats a separate wellness program as something other than insurance. In states that adopt it, an insurer or agent can’t market a wellness program as pet insurance, can’t require you to buy one to get pet insurance, has to price it separately, and has to tell you it isn’t insurance.
So the difference between pet insurance and a wellness plan comes down to the job each one does. Insurance pays for the unexpected, like a swallowed toy or a cancer diagnosis. A wellness plan spreads the cost of routine care across the year. If you want both, you can have both.
What does wellness coverage cost?
NAPHIA tracks the average price of pet insurance with wellness built in. Subtract the average accident and illness premium, and you get a rough idea of what the wellness part costs:
| Dogs, per year | Cats, per year | |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance with wellness built in | $1,414 | $859 |
| Accident and illness only | $836 | $435 |
| Difference | $578 (about $48 a month) | $424 (about $35 a month) |
Treat that difference as a ballpark, not a price. It’s the gap between two averages, and the people who buy each type of plan aren’t the same people with the same pets. Your quote for a wellness add-on could be well above or below it. Our pet insurance cost guide explains what drives the rest of the premium.
Does a wellness add-on pay for itself?
The only way to know is to add up your own pet’s routine care for a year and compare it with what the add-on costs and what it actually pays back.
Start with a list of what your vet recommends over the next 12 months. That typically means a checkup, whatever vaccines are due, and parasite prevention. It might also include a dental cleaning, routine blood work, or a spay or neuter if your pet hasn’t had one. Ask your vet for prices, then total them.
Next, read how the add-on pays. A wellness add-on may pay a set amount for each item or cap the total for the year, rather than paying a percentage of every bill. Line up its payouts against your list. If it would pay back less than it costs, you’re better off paying for routine care yourself. If it pays back more, it can be worth it, as long as you’d actually use every item.
Example prices from two low-cost clinics
Prices vary a lot by vet and by region, so the only numbers that matter are your vet’s. For a sense of scale, here’s what two low-cost clinics list. These are those clinics’ own prices, and low-cost clinics exist to charge less, so a full-service vet may charge more.
The Sacramento SPCA, a nonprofit in California, lists these on its clinic price list effective March 1, 2026:
| Service | Sacramento SPCA price |
|---|---|
| Rabies vaccine (dog or cat) | $20 |
| DHPP vaccine (dogs) | $25 |
| Bordetella vaccine (dogs) | $25 |
| Leptospirosis vaccine (dogs) | $20 |
| Canine influenza vaccine (dogs) | $30 |
| FVRCP vaccine (cats) | $25 |
| Feline leukemia (FeLV) vaccine (cats) | $20 |
| Cat spay or neuter | $100 |
| Dog spay or neuter | $200 to $500, depending on weight |
It offers discounts for seniors, veterans, students and some low-income households, and only does these surgeries on pets between 3 months and 7 years old.
Loudoun County Animal Services, a county agency in Virginia, charges $10 each for rabies, DHPP and FVRCP vaccines at its low-cost vaccine clinics. Its spay and neuter clinic, open only to income-qualified county residents, charges $100 for a cat and $175 for a dog, with a microchip, vaccination and pain medication included.
Here’s what that looks like against the average add-on price. If your cat got a rabies, FVRCP and FeLV vaccine in the same year at the Sacramento SPCA’s prices, that’s $65. The average wellness difference for cats was about $424. A checkup, dental work and other routine care would have to make up the rest before the add-on came out ahead.
Why spaying still matters
Spaying or neutering can lower your pet’s risk of breast, testicular and prostate cancers later, the AVMA says, so ask your vet about timing.
Even though insurance won’t pay for it, a spay or neuter can lower some health risks later. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) says senior pets that haven’t been spayed or neutered are at higher risk of breast, testicular and prostate cancers. Talk with your vet about the right timing for your pet.
Other routine costs regular plans often skip
Spaying and vaccines aren’t the only gaps. The Alabama Department of Insurance lists preventive care, dental care not tied to an accident or injury, behavioral treatment, breed-specific hereditary conditions and elective procedures as things not every plan covers. If dental care is your main worry, read does pet insurance cover dental.
Also check when coverage starts. Many policies have a waiting period before some or all coverage begins, which our guide to pet insurance waiting periods explains. For more on what cats and older pets need, see our guides to pet insurance for cats and pet insurance for older dogs.
When you’re ready, compare pet insurance quotes with and without wellness coverage, so you can see exactly what the add-on costs for your pet. For more guides, head to our pet insurance hub.
Frequently asked questions
Does pet insurance cover spaying or neutering?
A standard accident and illness policy doesn’t. Spaying and neutering are planned procedures, not accidents or illnesses. Some wellness add-ons and wellness plans put money toward them, so check the wellness schedule if that’s what you need.
Does pet insurance cover vaccines?
Not a standard accident and illness policy. Vaccines are routine care, which falls under wellness coverage. You can get that as an add-on to a pet insurance policy or as a separate wellness plan, sometimes sold by your own vet’s office.
What is a pet wellness plan?
A pet wellness plan helps pay for routine care like checkups and vaccines. It can be an add-on to pet insurance or a separate program. Under the NAIC’s model law, a separate wellness program isn’t insurance, and in states that adopt the model, an insurer or agent selling one has to price it separately and tell you it isn’t insurance.
What’s the difference between pet insurance and a wellness plan?
Pet insurance pays for unexpected costs, like an injury or an illness. A wellness plan helps pay for routine care you can predict, like vaccines and checkups. They do different jobs, and you can have both.
How much does a pet wellness plan cost?
Based on NAPHIA’s 2025 averages, insurance with wellness built in cost about $578 a year more than accident and illness coverage alone for dogs, and about $424 more for cats. That’s a difference of two averages, so your own price could be quite different.
Is a pet wellness plan worth it?
Only if it pays back more than it costs. Add up what your vet recommends for your pet over the next year, check what the plan would reimburse for each item, and compare that with the plan’s price. If the plan costs more than it returns, pay for routine care yourself.
Do I have to buy a wellness plan to get pet insurance?
Not in states that follow the NAIC’s model law. It bars insurers from requiring you to buy a wellness program to get pet insurance, and from basing your eligibility for a policy on whether you have one.
Sources
- North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), State of the Industry Report 2026, published June 2026 and covering the 2025 calendar year. Average premiums for accident and illness coverage and for insurance with embedded wellness, and product definitions. The wellness difference in this article is our arithmetic on those two averages.
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Pet Insurance Model Act (#633), adopted summer 2022. Section 3 (definition of a wellness program), Section 5 (policy conditions) and Section 6 (sales practices for wellness programs).
- Alabama Department of Insurance, consumer release on pet insurance, February 2018. Exclusions, the consumer checklist and wellness programs offered by vet offices.
- Sacramento SPCA, Clinic Price List, pricing effective March 1, 2026, viewed September 2026.
- Loudoun County, Virginia, Animal Services Low-Cost Resources, viewed September 2026.
- American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Caring for senior cats and dogs.
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