Paws & Clauses Pet Insurance Fine Print
Trupanion CEO talks loss ratios in exclusive interview
Trupanion remains the only company I’ve covered whose founder and CEO will engage reporters on this level. Next week, TCR will be on the ground in Seattle for the company’s annual meeting to shine more light into how Mr. Rawlings and his team are thinking about Trupanion and the future of the company. Interview transcript […]
Vets Beware: Pawlicy Advisor’s Marketing Strategy is YOU–With Glaring Omissions
Veterinary professionals are underpaid, overworked, and in short supply. So, a reliable website where veterinarians can direct their demanding clients with pet insurance questions is one less headache, right? That’s a simplified version of the idea being pushed by Pawlicy Advisor, the company whose website “guarantees” veterinarians and pet owners that they are “100% devoted […]
TCR talks pet insurance on podcast
From The Chatfield Show YouTube Page: “In this episode, our hosts (Dr. Jen the vet and Dr. Jason Chatfield) sit down with an experienced pet owner and reporter to talk about the world of pet insurance. With so many options on the market, it can be overwhelming for pet owners to navigate the various plans […]
Can Vet-Centric Trupanion Continue to Deliver? High-Flying Insurance Maverick Hits Headwinds
Last month, vet-centric pet insurer Trupanion told shareholders they could expect as much as a twenty percent drop in member retention in 2023 because of premium rate hikes that the company “fully anticipated.” The executives at Seattle-based Trupanion reported fourth quarter earnings in mid-February: “We were hearing noises in the market around vet inflation picking […]
Pet insurer Embrace sues TCR and regulators to keep marketing tactics secret
Embrace filed a motion today to preclude TCR from obtaining records we requested from the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner, which Embrace says are exempt from disclosure because the records contain trade secrets. “In October 2021, in response to OIC’s inquiry and pursuant to Washington law, Embrace submitted written answers and documents to […]
Pets Best to change underwriters says current underwriter and Trupanion CEO, explaining it’s “not capital efficient”
Last week, Trupanion (NASDAQ: TRUP), which, in addition to the core subscription product bearing its namesake also underwrites Pets Best, released its fourth quarter financial results and annual report. CEO and founder Darryl Rawlings dropped something of a bombshell: Trupanion would no longer be underwriting Pets Best. Trupanion reported that growth in the company’s Other […]
Lemonade announces buzzy alliance with Chewy–Trupanion’s original partner
“The moment that [Chewy] would offer another insurance carrier, we could talk to other pet retailers,” Rawlings told TCR, declining to name companies, although he did note that Trupanion “turned down Walmart.”
“We didn’t think that Walmart could help grow the category,” Rawlings added. Trupanion’s point of view, he says, is that ‘Chewy was going to come to the marketplace no matter what,’ describing Chewy as if he were describing stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Regulators move forward with new reporting requirements for pet insurers
Regulators are moving forward with a draft of new reporting requirements for pet insurance carriers. This Wednesday, when the Market Conduct Annual Statement Blanks Working Group convenes, they will receive an update from Matthew Gendron of Rhode Island who is leading the charge by heading up the Subject Matter Expert (SME) group tasked with developing […]
Petplan, Dodo officially withdraw veterinary professional “moral hazard” filing
In July, The Canine Review reported that Petplan which had recently partnered with Group Nine Media and rebranded itself as “Fetch by The Dodo,” was seeking to slash veterinary professionals from pet health insurance coverage by declaring them a “moral hazard.” Our reporting resulted in sharp and extensive outcry from veterinary professionals and influencers on […]
Regulators adopt first significant legislation for fast-growing pet insurance industry. Now, states must decide.
Regulators gathering at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Summer National Meeting voted to adopt the Pet Insurance Model Act nearly three years after the Pet Insurance Working Group began its drafting process. “This model law establishes clear rules for the sale of pet insurance and provides important disclosures to pet owners interested in […]
12 Months for Nationwide, 30 Days in Maine; Significant regulatory overhaul looming for American pet insurance
In Maine, a state senator and dog lover decided she had waited long enough for pet insurance legislation. When the National Association of Insurance Regulators (NAIC), the organization of state insurance officials, failed to pass a long-debated Pet Insurance Model Law in December, Maine Democrat Heather Sanborn pushed ahead on her own and put the […]
AKC Pet Insurance/PPI promises “most comprehensive” pre-existing condition coverage, but CEO declines repeated requests to discuss policy
The policy says if condition X occurs during the 365-day pre-existing condition waiting period, it is not eligible. Only “Treatment that occurs AFTER [emphasis TCR’s] the three hundred and sixty five day waiting period” is eligible. Thus, even PPI’s own fine print even seems to indicate that it would not cover conditions that its salespeople told TCR in three different conversations with different representatives it would cover.
And here’s the kicker: PPI’s leaders refused repeated requests to discuss any of our questions over more than two weeks of attempts to get help clarifying the policy language.
