Pet insurance in Maryland

Maryland enacted specific pet-insurance rules in 2024. Chapter 740, HB647, signed on 16 May 2024, applies to pet policies and contracts issued, delivered or renewed in the state from 1 January 2025. This is current law.

The regulator is the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA). The law defines pet insurance as property insurance and includes certificates and add-on coverage. Section 19-1103 covers policies or certificates issued to a state resident or sold, solicited, negotiated or offered in the state. Human-health insurance rules do not automatically apply.

Waiting periods and the vet exam

Section 19-1105(b) sets these rules:

The insurer may specify examination elements and documentation, but documentation requirements must not unreasonably restrict the ability to waive the wait. Waiting requirements must be disclosed before purchase. An insurer cannot require a pet examination as a condition of renewal (§19-1105(d)).

The prohibition expressly names an illness or orthopedic condition resulting from an accident. We retain that precise scope rather than infer a separate universal limit for every possible injury. Check the provision for your injury category in the policy and disclosure document.

What counts as pre-existing

Section 19-1101(g) considers events before the policy starts or during a waiting period: veterinary advice, treatment, or information from verifiable sources showing signs or symptoms directly related to the condition claimed. A diagnosis is not essential; relevant symptoms can be enough.

Section 19-1105(a) permits disclosed pre-existing exclusions. The insurer must prove that the exclusion applies to the particular condition claimed. Ask for the records, dates and connection between the symptoms and the denial.

What renewal preserves

Under §19-1101(g)(2) and (h), a condition covered by the previous policy cannot become pre-existing on renewal. Here renewal means a replacement policy from the same or an affiliated insurer with substantially similar types and limits of coverage.

This does not transfer coverage to any unrelated insurer. Before switching companies or increasing coverage, establish whether the change meets that definition and how it affects a covered illness. The protection concerns reclassification as pre-existing; it does not promise the same price, deductible and limits forever.

Ten days to cancel and the refund amount

Section 19-1104(b) requires a prominent notice that you may surrender the policy for cancellation within 10 days after delivery. The minimum refund is the proportionate premium for the unused policy term. Making a claim removes the refund entitlement under this provision.

MIA Bulletin 24-25, page 1, footnote 2, explains that an insurer may refund the full premium. Confirm any full refund or longer return period in your policy; the statute establishes the minimum above.

Must you pay the vet first?

Read literally, §19-1105(c) says the insurer “shall require” the insured to submit a claim after paying the veterinarian. However, MIA expressly explains in Bulletin 24-25, page 2, that it does not interpret this as prohibiting the insurer from paying the vet directly.

Check the arrangements before treatment: whether the insurer supports them, whether the clinic agrees and what you must pay yourself. Legal permission for direct payment does not establish that a particular insurer or clinic offers it.

Documents you should receive

Section 19-1104 requires a separate Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions, in at least 12-point type, with a copy of the policy. It must also be accessible through a conspicuous link on the insurer’s or program administrator’s home page.

Disclosures must address exclusions, waits, deductibles, coinsurance and limits; the legal insurer where it differs from the brand; and whether the insurer reduces coverage or increases premiums because of claim history, the pet’s age or a move to a different location. The insurer must also summarize the basis or formula for claim payments in the policy, before issuing it and through a link on its home page. If it uses a benefit schedule, or limits payment to usual and customary fees or other prevailing veterinary charges, it must disclose that schedule or basis in the policy and through a link on its home page. If an exam is required to start coverage, its requirements and the risk that its records may produce a pre-existing exclusion must be disclosed before purchase.

The law requires disclosure of hereditary, congenital and chronic exclusions. A duty to disclose an exclusion does not itself require coverage of that condition. The pre-existing definition has no numerical look-back limit, and we did not establish a universal period after which a curable condition must regain coverage in the reviewed pet subtitle. Look for such concessions in the contract.

A separate wellness plan cannot be a condition of buying insurance. Its costs and terms must be identifiable separately; wellness benefits included in the insurance contract itself are insurance. Sources: §19-1105(f), §19-1106.

Rates and access to forms

MIA distinguishes policy-form approval from rate filing: property/casualty forms require approval before use, while most competitive lines allow rates to be used when filed. These are different procedures.

For insurers in scope, §11-307(a) requires rates and changes to be filed on or before their effective date. Exceptions include certain inland-marine risks customarily outside rating manuals or plans. We have not read an individual pet filing to verify its classification and procedure. A filing alone does not establish that MIA approved a percentage increase.

Under §11-307(c), filings and support are open when filed, subject to defined exceptions for proprietary rating models. But that subsection does not authorize keeping the factors used to calculate the premium confidential. Section 11-206(d) also provides public inspection of forms and other filings within its scope.

MIA’s public-documents page links filing searches and Public Information Act requests. We did not open SERFF; individual filings, prices and age factors remain unverified. Identify the legal insurer, program, form number and dates when seeking records. Ask for the policy, endorsements, rate manual, support and document status.

If the terms or denial conflict with the law

Compare the issued policy, endorsements, disclosure and written denial. Record the coverage start, waiting period and dates of the medical evidence separately. You can use MIA’s official complaint page. This is property insurance: use the corresponding complaint category rather than a human-health coverage appeal process.