My $0.02 is that a lot of it depends on your financial situation. I think you have to look at some possible scenarios, and then ask yourself how you would make out with and without insurance.
Based on the pictures you show, I'm not real impressed by either of them just in terms of coverage. I'd check out more companies and try to do better.
Some thoughts:
1. I don't see a point in getting insurance that has a maximum per incident of less than several thousand dollars, because that's the whole point of having insurance for most people is to help with cases like that. Cases where you basically are forced to decide between financial ruin for yourself and your cat's life, which is a horrible bind to be in. There are insurance companies that don't have any maximums at all! Sure it's nice if your insurance can help out with the $100, $200 visits etc., but your premiums will most likely far outpace your claims for those types of things. It's the $2,000, $5,000 etc., types of things where having insurance makes the most difference.
2. That one that separates out accidents from illness is nonsense imo. How can you know that your big expense will come from one or the other, and most companies don't hassle you with that kind of nonsense.
3. If you are struggling to come up with the monthly premium, go with a higher deductible but don't skimp on coverage.
4. Don't get any of the preventative care stuff insurance companies offer. They are obviously rigged so that in general you will get back less than you pay in, and also usually puts all kinds of constraints on your cat's care (how often, what services, even what vets etc).
5. This is a good place to start:
http://www.petinsurancereview.com/But take things there with a grain of salt. I think there are a lot of bogus "positive" reviews there imo.
6. I would also do searches like:
<prospective insurance company's name> problems
In google to see how they are treating their customers.
7. Visit the company websites. A lot of them have their own (biased but still very informative) comparisons of why their coverage is better than very specific competitors. You can learn alot by reading those.
Keep in mind that no insurance company pays for pre-existing conditions, yet there are always morons who sign up for insurance and immediately file a big claim and then get cheesed off and rant away then they are denied. So you'll see a lot of those types of complaints, which you can safely ignore, for each company.
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