Summary: Americans love their animals, and spend billions a year on toys, food, and veterinarian expenses. Medical costs for pets can be as expensive as medical costs for humans, but until recently there was no such thing as pet insurance. While pet insurance can be traced as far back as 1890 in Sweden when insurance was available for livestock and horses, it wasn't until 1982 when the first pet insurance policy was available in the United States.

Since then the pet insurance industry has exploded. The North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) states that the industry exceeded $2.83 billion at the end of 2021, and that the industry has more than doubled between 2018 and 2021. They indicate that over 4.41 million pets are currently insured across North America.

In light of this explosive growth of a new insurance product, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recognized the growing need for more standard and comprehensive regulations of pet insurance, and developed the 2022 Pet Insurance Model Act  that is the subject of this analysis. States are encouraged to adopt all or parts of the Model Act. While pet insurance in many respects emulates human health insurance, pets are considered property and pet insurance is a property & casualty insurance product. While many policies are restricted to dogs and cats, Nationwide does provide coverage for birds, rabbits or exotic animals.