100,000 pet owners to lose insurance

Roughly 100,000 pet owners will soon lose their insurance policies because of “inflationary pressures and other factors,” Nationwide Insurance announced.

The insurance provider said in a news release on Friday that the decision to not renew the policies was in compliance “with the law and our contracts” and would “enable the company to maintain long-term viability and profitability.”

The move comes as surveys and other data indicate that American pet owners have recently experienced significantly increased costs for veterinary care, supplies and pet insurance premiums.

Nationwide, which claimed to be the country’s “first and largest provider of pet health insurance” servicing 1.2 million policies before the announcement, said that all of the affected policies would be dropped by the summer of 2025.

“Inflation in the cost of veterinary care and other factors have led to recent underwriting changes and the withdrawal of some products in some states—difficult actions that are necessary to ensure a financially sustainable future for our pet insurance line of business,” the Nationwide release states.

“These measures, being taken at a state level, comply with the law and our contracts, and are not associated with the pet’s age, breed or prior claims history. This will involve the non-renewal of approximately 100,000 policies between this spring and the summer of 2025.”

The company went on to say that “impacted policyholders will be notified in writing well in advance” of the non-renewals. It was not clear what factors were used to determine the non-renewed policies.

Newsweek reached out for comment to Nationwide Insurance via email on Monday.

An exclusive Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey conducted in March on behalf of Newsweek found that a 72 percent majority of Americans had seen the cost of looking after their pets increase during the previous year.

The price of veterinary care was cited as the largest factor in the price hike. Dr. Rena Carlson, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, told Newsweek at the time that vets had increased prices because of their own rising costs.

“Like for other health care sectors, the cost of delivering veterinary medical services continues to rise,” Carlson said. “Reasons include rising cost of pharmaceutical products used to treat acute and chronic conditions…increases in general operating expenses, such as electricity, building rents/mortgages, telecommunications services, and so on.”

In April, the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) reported that the pet insurance industry had experienced a 22 percent year-over-year increase in revenue. NAPHIA Executive Director Kristen Lynch said that pet owners were purchasing more policies as “financial protection to cover the rising costs of veterinary care.”

About 5.6 million U.S. pets are currently covered by insurance policies, according to NAPHIA, with the majority of policies held by dog owners. The 2024 average annual premium cost was $675.61 for dogs and $383.30 for cats.