New Mississippi Law on Pet Insurance Requires Exclusions to be Disclosed

The Mississippi insurance commissioner is reminding consumers and insurance companies that the state will soon have a pet insurance regulatory framework in place, thanks to a law signed in March by the governor.

“Pet insurance may seem like a joke to some but it is big business … and that big business is coming to Mississippi,” Commissioner Mike Chaney said in bulletin posted Monday.

Senate Bill 2228, which takes effect July 1, makes Mississippi just the second state, besides Maine, to adopt a similar law, which requires that pet insurance companies disclose all exclusions, including those for pets with preexisting conditions or hereditary disorders.

The law also allows the commissioner to draft regulations to require training for producers who sell pet insurance, and which establish sales practices, policy conditions and penalties for regulatory violations.

Chaney noted that pet insurance premiums are, on average, about $594 per year for a dog and $342 per year for a cat.

Nationwide Insurance in 2018 was by far the largest provider of pet insurance in the United States, with 36% of the market, according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. As of 2022, some 4.4 million pets were insured in North America, producing almost $3 billion in gross written premium, the pet association said.

Topics Mississippi