Capital Blue Cross now offering pet insurance

    A major Pennsylvania health insurer has started offering pet insurance.

    Officials at Harrisburg-based Capital Blue Cross tell The Philadelphia Inquirer they believe the company is the first Blue Cross company to offer pet insurance.

    The program is managed by Philadelphia-based PetPlan. Capital Blue Cross strategic development director Stacy Balaban says a lot of Americans consider pets family members, so the new program makes sense. About 500 people attended a pets and people health fair last week in Harrisburg to get information.

     

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    The Inquirer report says an English couple who studied at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School began the PetPlan program after their cat needed a kidney transplant.

    Founder Chris Ashton says an estimated 1 million Americans insure their pets.

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