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Make Pet Insurers Explain Their Exclusions Before You Sign
Final signature count: 1,275
1,275 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: The Animal Rescue Site
Most states let pet insurers hide the fine print until after your claim is denied.
Pet insurance enrollment has surged across the United States. Premiums are rising. And millions of pet owners are finding out — only after a sick or injured animal lands them at the vet — that the policy they trusted is paying far less than they expected. The problem is not pet insurance itself. It is that most states impose almost no rules on what companies must tell you before you sign.7
Most States Leave Pet Owners Without Basic Protections
Only 14 states currently provide any meaningful consumer protections beyond basic insurance licensing requirements.7 That means the vast majority of Americans have no guarantee that a pet insurance policy is written in plain language — or that the company is required to disclose what it will not cover. Deductibles, waiting periods, annual caps, preexisting-condition exclusions, reimbursement calculation methods, and common denial reasons all directly determine what a policyholder actually receives. When these terms are buried or never disclosed at all, pet owners learn how their policy works at the worst possible moment: when a claim is denied.
A Few States Are Acting — The Rest Are Not
Florida enacted new pet insurance legislation that took effect in 2026, establishing requirements around policy disclosures, preexisting-condition definitions, and consumer notices.5 The law, rooted in Florida Senate Bill 158, created a formal statutory framework for an industry that previously operated without one in the state.1,2 New Jersey passed its own pet insurance act with an industry compliance deadline of 2027.3 New York has a comprehensive bill in progress.4 These are real steps — but they protect only a fraction of the country.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners recognized this problem in 2022, when it passed a Pet Insurance Model Act — a ready-made template states can adopt to bring consistency and fairness to the market.6 Years later, most states have yet to act on it.
The Fix Is Straightforward
A standardized disclosure form — covering deductibles, waiting periods, exclusions, preexisting-condition definitions, claim-calculation methods, coverage limits, and common denial reasons — would give every pet owner the facts needed to compare policies and understand real costs before an emergency. Several states have already shown it is possible. The rest of the country has no reason to wait.
What We're Asking For
This petition calls on state insurance commissioners, regulatory departments, state legislatures, and the NAIC to require every pet insurance policy sold in the United States to include a plain-language standardized summary disclosure — presented before purchase. Not buried in fine print. Not discovered after a claim is denied. Before you sign.
Pet owners in every state deserve the same basic transparency when they choose insurance to protect an animal they love. The tools to make that happen already exist. What is missing is the political will to require it uniformly.
Sign the petition today and tell your state insurance commissioner, regulatory department, and legislature that pet owners deserve clear, honest answers about what their policy will — and will not — cover before they pay a single premium.
