Embrace Pet Insurance Review (2026)

Embrace sells and services the policies but does not insure them itself. California filing 26-812 calls it the MGA (managing general agent, an agent with the power to underwrite) and the program administrator. The insurer in California is American Modern Home Insurance Company, of the Munich Re group (per CDI filing 26-812). In Florida it is American Southern Home Insurance Company, also of the American Modern group. Almost every fact below comes from California filing 26-812 and policy form PET00 (02/24). We could not obtain the Florida documents.

How it works everywhere

• The premium is set for a year. Formula: base rate × species and sex × breed group × age and tenure × annual maximum × reimbursement percentage × deductible × territory. The pending filing 26-812 adds claim history. Discounts come off the result (rating order on rate manual page RA-1). The monthly payment is the annual premium divided by 12.
• The age factor depends on two things at once: age at enrollment and years insured. It rises at every renewal, with one exception: it drops after a puppy’s first year.
• A long-time customer pays more than a new one of the same age. In the approved California manual (24-1315), a 7-year-old dog insured as a puppy has a factor of 4.12; a dog first insured at 7 has 1.86. Filing 26-812 narrows the gap to 2.45 against 1.65.
• Claims affect the price. Under the approved manual (24-1315) the discount is 5% after one year and 10% after two, if paid claims stayed at $300 a year or less.
• Filing 26-812 replaces that discount with a Claim History factor based on the last three years. If paid claims stayed under $500 in every year counted, the factor is 0.95. After three straight years of $500 or more, it is 1.84 at ages 3–4, 2.99 at 5–9 and 4.77 at 10 and older (manual pages CH-1 to CH-5). The company estimates this adds 22.5% to premiums (Exhibit 18).
• The deductible is annual. Reimbursement runs from 65% to 100%; filing 26-812 adds 50% and 60%. The annual maximum runs from $2,000 to unlimited.
• Vet exam fees and medications are separate coverages. The approved manual includes both and lets you drop them for discounts of 11.45% and 12.21% (24-1315). Filing 26-812 makes them optional add-ons. The policy pays for them only if they are listed on the policy schedule (PET00 III).
• Accidents have no waiting period; illnesses wait 14 days. The wait is waived if a vet examines the pet after the start date and finds nothing (PET00 VI.20).
• Cruciate ligament disease, IVDD (intervertebral disc disease), luxating kneecap and hip dysplasia are excluded for life if their signs appear in the first 180 days (PET00 IV.1).
• A vet must examine the pet in the 12 months before the start date or within 14 days after. Without an exam the policy covers accidents only until the exam takes place, and the illness premium is refunded (PET00 II.1).
• Medical records are collected at enrollment but checked at the first illness claim. You can ask for an earlier check after the 14-day wait (PET00 II.9). The check covers 12 months of history before enrollment.
• A temporary condition no longer counts as pre-existing (present before the policy) after 12 months with no signs or treatment (PET00 IV). A condition covered in one policy year does not become pre-existing at renewal (PET00 I.34).
• An accident-and-illness policy is open to pets from 6 weeks to 14 years old. Age limits apply to new policies only. The underwriting guidelines filed with 26-812 would let pets 15 and older enroll for accident-only cover. Under the current guidelines attached to the same filing, pets 15 and older appear to be refused any cover.
• A $25 fee is charged once, with the first pet. When two or more pets are insured, each gets 10% off. All discounts together are capped at 25% (manual page D-1).

Pros

• An unlimited annual maximum is available (manual page AM-1, in both 24-1315 and the pending 26-812).
• The base policy covers hereditary and chronic conditions (PET00 III.1).
• Dental illness is covered up to $1,000 a year (PET00 III.1.e).
• Complementary therapy after a covered surgery or illness, and behavioral therapy led by a vet, are in the base policy (PET00 III.2).
• A curable condition is covered again after 12 months with no signs or treatment.
• You can ask for the medical history check right after the 14-day illness wait, without waiting for a claim (PET00 II.9).
• You can drop exam fees and medications to pay less (24-1315).

Cons

• The price rises with years insured, not only with age. Long-time customers pay more than new ones of the same age (24-1315, 26-812).
• The more you use the insurance, the more it costs. Under 24-1315 the discount is lost after a year with more than $300 in paid claims. Under filing 26-812 a pet aged 10 or older with three years of claims gets a factor of 4.77 instead of 0.95.
• California increases: +23.1% (23-1660, from 14 May 2024) and +23.5% (24-1315, from 15 May 2025).
• Filing 26-812 asks for +29.7% from 1 February 2027. In its final actuarial opinion of 9 October 2026, the CDI capped the increase at 25.3%. On 13 October 2026 the filing was still under review.
• At the requested rates, 46.8% of California policies would rise by more than 30%, and 2.4% would more than double (26-812, Exhibit 20).
• Filing 26-812 adds a new renewal rule. If the renewal premium is higher than the annual maximum, the policy does not renew automatically. The administrator first lowers the reimbursement percentage, then raises the deductible, then offers a higher limit. At the requested rates the rule would hit 838 California policies.
• At renewal the insurer can change the premium, reimbursement percentage, deductible and terms (PET00 VI.21).
• The orthopedic exclusion for the first 180 days is permanent. A ligament problem that shows in month five is never covered.
• Without a recent vet exam, illnesses are not covered. An example from the reply to the CDI objection of 12 August 2026 in filing 26-812: a California policy started on 20 January 2022, but the exam took place only on 19 December 2022. In May 2025 the first 11 months (20 January to 19 December 2022) were turned into accident-only cover, and the illness premium was refunded.
• You cannot buy a new accident-and-illness policy after age 14.
• Prescription food is not covered (PET00 IV.15).
• During the first 60 days the insurer can cancel a new policy at any time. Limits on the reasons for cancelling apply only from day 61 (PET00 VI.2.b, VI.2.e).

What we could not verify

• Florida rates, policy form, waiting periods and age limits. We could not obtain the documents of filings 26-026661 and 26-031921.
• How much, and in which direction, Florida filings 26-026661 (from 1 January 2027) and 26-031921 (from 2 June 2027) change rates. Both were approved in 2026, but the public list shows no percentages.
• Whether the 180-day orthopedic exclusion applies in Florida. State law caps waiting periods at 30 days for illness and for orthopedic problems not caused by an accident (Fla. Stat. §627.71545).
• How California filing 26-812 will end.
• Whether a $1 installment fee applies to monthly payments. The 26-812 rate application lists it; the manual pages do not.
• Whether Embrace pays vets directly anywhere. The policy describes only reimbursement to the owner.
• Wellness (routine preventive care) and other add-on products that are not in the filed policy.