Short answer: pet insurance keeps getting more expensive mainly because veterinary care keeps getting more expensive. Veterinary-service prices rose 7.4% in the year to August 2026, roughly double overall inflation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Insurers pass that through to everyone’s renewal, and many add an age-based increase on top. NAPHIA’s industry data show the average US accident-and-illness premium for a dog rose 11.5% in 2025, to $836 a year (about $70 a month); for cats it rose 12.6%, to $435 (about $36 a month).
If your renewal letter showed a jump even though your pet never made a claim, that’s normal — and it’s worth understanding which parts of the increase you can do something about.
How Much Premiums Have Actually Risen
The North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) publishes the average premium US policyholders pay each year. Here is the accident-and-illness trend:
| Year | Dogs (avg per year) | Change | Cats (avg per year) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $640 | +2.4% | $387 | +4.7% |
| 2023 | $676 | +5.5% | $383 | −1.1% |
| 2024 | $749 | +11.0% | $386 | +0.9% |
| 2025 | $836 | +11.5% | $435 | +12.6% |
Two things stand out. Increases for dogs accelerated sharply in 2024 and 2025. And cats, which had been flat for years, caught up in 2025 with the largest single-year rise in the table. NAPHIA’s own explanation is that total premium dollars keep growing faster than the number of insured pets “due to consistent increase in YoY average premium” — in other words, prices, not just more customers.
Reason 1: Vet Care Costs More Every Year
Premiums follow claims, and claims follow vet bills. The BLS index for veterinarian services rose 8.8% in 2022, 9.4% in 2023, 7.4% in 2024 and 6.3% in 2025 (annual averages), and about 44% in total between January 2021 and August 2026 — twice the rise in overall consumer prices over the same period. A treatment that cost $3,000 at the start of 2021 would cost roughly $4,300 for the same care today.
Insurers say so directly. On Trupanion’s August 2026 earnings call, its CEO described veterinary inflation as “still higher than historically expected, at a bit of a double-digit level,” and said those assumptions are “flowing through our pricing.” More advanced diagnostics and specialty care — MRI, oncology, emergency hospitals — also mean each claim is bigger than it used to be. For a sense of what individual procedures cost, see our senior dog vet bill breakdown and cat kidney disease treatment costs.
Reason 2: Your Pet Is Getting Older
Most insurers price by age. Embrace explains that premiums may increase as pets get older because they become more susceptible to illness, and describes a 10-year-old Beagle whose premium rose about 20% in a year despite being in relatively good health. Our analysis of how a dog’s insurance cost climbs with age shows how steep that curve gets in the senior years.
Not every insurer works this way. Trupanion’s policy disclosures state that premiums “will not increase based on Your claim history or the age of Your covered Pet.” But it still raises rates for its whole book of business when costs rise — so “no age increases” does not mean “no increases.”
Reason 3: Rate Filings Reprice Whole Groups at Once
In states that require insurers to file rate changes, the increases are public — and they can be large. Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation approved 12 pet insurance rate filings averaging 9.25%, affecting about 50,000 policyholders, according to industry reporting in February 2026; individual carriers’ approved increases there reportedly ranged up to 26%. In Georgia, approved 2026 increases reportedly ranged from 9.5% to 36.9% depending on the insurer. A Florida regulator was quoted saying that animal care prices “continue to rise faster than broader economic inflation, putting steady pressure on loss ratios.”
These filings apply to everyone on that plan in that state, regardless of whether their own pet has claimed. Some companies have also shrunk their pet business instead: Nationwide announced in 2024 that it would not renew about 100,000 pet policies, citing rising veterinary costs.
Reason 4: Where You Live (and Your Breed)
Premiums are also priced by ZIP code, because vet prices vary widely by region, and by breed, because some breeds claim far more often. If you moved, your rate can change even with no other difference — Trupanion’s own disclosures note premiums “may increase or decrease if You move to a new ZIP code.” See how breed changes the price for examples.
What You Can Actually Do About It
You can’t control vet inflation or your pet’s age, but you can control how much risk you keep:
- Raise your deductible. A higher deductible means a lower premium, but more out of pocket before coverage starts. Check whether it’s annual or per-condition — our reimbursement guide explains the difference.
- Lower the reimbursement percentage (for example 90% to 80% or 70%). Every claim will pay less.
- Review the annual limit. An unlimited plan costs more than a capped one; see high-limit vs. standard plans.
- Drop add-ons you don’t use, such as wellness riders, if routine care is cheaper to pay directly.
- Compare before switching — carefully. A new insurer will generally exclude pre-existing conditions and restart the waiting period. For a young, healthy pet, shopping around can save money; for a pet with a health history, it often means losing coverage for the conditions most likely to need it.
A useful test: take one realistic emergency — say a $3,000 bill — and work out what you would pay under your current plan versus the cheaper version. If the premium saving is small and the out-of-pocket difference is large, the cheaper plan may not be the better deal.
Is Anyone Regulating This?
Partly. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Pet Insurance Model Act, adopted in 2022, sets consumer protections — for example, it caps illness waiting periods at 30 days, bans waiting periods for accidents, prevents a covered condition from becoming “pre-existing” at renewal, and gives a 15-day free look. As of the NAIC’s Summer 2026 tracking, 17 jurisdictions had adopted it. But the model act doesn’t cap how much premiums can rise, and neither do the states that publish rate filings.
The Bottom Line
A higher renewal price usually isn’t a judgement on your pet — it reflects double-digit growth in what vet care costs, plus age and location. Premiums are likely to keep rising while veterinary inflation stays well above general inflation. The practical move is to decide how much of each bill you want the insurer to carry, and adjust deductible, reimbursement and limits to match your budget — rather than dropping coverage right when your pet is getting older and more likely to need it.
This article is general information, not financial or insurance advice. Policy terms vary by insurer and state; check your own policy documents.
Sources
- NAPHIA — State of the Industry Report 2026 (highlights), June 2026; press releases for 2025, 2024 and 2023
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — CPI: Veterinarian services, series CUUR0000SS62054; CPI news release, August 2026, September 11, 2026
- Trupanion — Q2 2026 results, August 5, 2026; Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions
- Embrace Pet Insurance — Why Pet Insurance Premiums Rise With Age, September 2025
- Florida rate filings as reported by beinsure.com, February 1, 2026; Georgia filings as reported by Insurify (syndicated)
- S&P Global Market Intelligence — US pet insurance market growth slows in 2025, but still robust, April 2026
- NAIC — Pet Insurance Model Act (Model 633); state adoption status, Summer 2026
