Depending on the animal, the cost to workers typically is $10 to 40 a month, with no cost to the companies offering it.

By Candice Choi, Associated Press

At a time when employers are scaling back on costly health benefits, pet insurance is gaining popularity as an employee benefit.

Veterinary Pet Insurance, the nation's largest pet insurer, saw its corporate accounts balloon from 15 to 1,600 in the past six years. About 15 percent of Veterinary Pet Insurance's policies, or about 50,000, now come from its corporate accounts. Among Minnesota companies that offer VPI Pet Insurance are Genmar Holdings, Medica, Medtronic and Wells Fargo.

Voluntary benefits like pet insurance are becoming more common at a time when American workers are feeling the sting of scaled-back health benefits for people. According to the Kaiser Foundation, premiums for family coverage have increased 78 percent between 2001 and 2007, and companies that offered health benefits dropped to 60 percent of employers in 2007 from 69 percent in 2000.

Simple way to help employees

For most companies, pet insurance is simply a way to help employees at no cost to the bottom line.

For employers, offering pet insurance doesn't cost a dime, since employees pay the full cost of the benefit, unlike health insurance for humans, where employers typically shoulder most of the cost. Workers typically get a discount of 5 or 10 percent if pet policies are obtained through their company.

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