Claim deadlines, a 48-hour vet visit and one year to sue

From Pet Insurance Wiki · last updated 19 Oct 2026
One of the most dangerous traps. Every example below comes from an insurer or regulator document, linked next to the quote. All traps

Almost every pet policy we read sets a deadline for sending in a bill. Miss the deadline for the claim, for records it asks for or for an appeal, and the claim can be refused. With Nationwide, the time to sue can run out before the insurer has even decided your claim.

How it works

Nine of the ten brands whose policies we read for this page set a deadline for filing a claim. Only Healthy Paws does not. The deadlines differ, and they are counted from different dates:

  • from the date of treatment: 90 days at Fetch (one year in California) and Trupanion, 180 days at Pets Best and Figo, 270 days at Spot, ASPCA and Pumpkin;
  • from the “first treatment”: Nationwide wants notice within 90 days, and claims sent more than 12 months after “the first treatment date” are not covered at all. Whether that means each visit or the first treatment of the condition is unclear (see below);
  • from the end of the policy year: Embrace allows 60 days after the policy ends or renews.

There are other deadlines besides the claim itself:

  • a vet visit: Fetch requires you to take your pet to a vet within 48 hours of first noticing signs of illness or injury;
  • records the insurer asks for: if Fetch requests records, they must arrive within 270 days of the date you filed the claim, or the claim is denied and closed and cannot be reopened;
  • an appeal: 90 days after the denial at Fetch; 90 days after the Explanation of Benefits at Figo, “or as soon as reasonably practicable”;
  • a lawsuit: at Nationwide, one year from the first treatment for the condition in dispute, not from the denial.

Policies describe the consequences in different ways. Only three rules are written with no room for doubt: Fetch’s rule on requested records (“denied and closed”), Embrace’s disclosure (“closed and not processed”) and Nationwide’s 12-month bar (“will not be covered”). Elsewhere the policy says “you must” and names no consequence, or says a claim “may” be denied. That means you can lose the claim, not that you lose it automatically.

None of the pet insurance laws we checked, in Pennsylvania, Washington and New Jersey, sets a claim deadline. Arizona, Texas and Illinois have no pet insurance law at all. In these states only general laws and the courts can limit these deadlines. What we found is in the section on state law below.

Examples

Nationwide: 90 days, 12 months and one year to sue

The Modular form VS-G-15 (9-24), underwritten by National Casualty Company. Nationwide lists this file for Arizona, Illinois, Washington and New Jersey. The same clauses are in the forms for California (VS-G-15-CA 11-20), Pennsylvania (VS-G-15-PA 9-24), and Texas and Florida (VS-G-15 3-26).

The claim deadline. You must give notice within 90 days of the first treatment. Late notice “may be grounds for denial”. After 12 months nothing is paid:

“Provide us with prompt (i.e., within ninety (90) days of your pet’s first treatment for any condition) notice of a claim. Delayed submission of your claim may prevent us from adjusting your claim and may be grounds for denial. Any claims submitted more than one year (12 months) after the first treatment date will not be covered.”

Source: Nationwide Modular Pet Insurance Coverage Form, VS-G-15 (9-24), section 14.A Your Duties, p. 8; in the Pennsylvania form, VS-G-15-PA (9-24), section 14.A, p. 9.

The wording is ambiguous. “First treatment for any condition” and “the first treatment date” could mean the first treatment of that condition rather than each visit. The policy does not say which. If your pet has a chronic condition, ask Nationwide in writing which date starts the clock for follow-up visits.

One year to sue. You can take Nationwide to court within one year of the pet’s first treatment for the condition in dispute:

“You must begin any legal action against us within one year of your pet’s first treatment for any condition identified in your legal action.”

Source: VS-G-15 (9-24), section 21 Suit Against Us, p. 10.

The clock runs from treatment, not from the denial. A claim may be filed up to 12 months after treatment, so the time to sue can run out before Nationwide decides the claim. In some states the law may void this clause or pause the clock: Arizona, Texas, Florida, Illinois and possibly New Jersey (see the section on state law below).

Fetch: 48 hours, 90 days and 270 days for records

Underwritten by AXIS Insurance Company. We read Fetch’s sample policies for Texas (GPTM 050 1125 A with endorsement GPTM 100-TX 0124 A), Washington (GPTM 050 WA 1125 A), Pennsylvania (GPTM 050 PA 1125 A) and New Jersey (GPTM 050 PML NJ 0326 A). Florida, Illinois and Arizona have the same 48 hours, 90 days and 270 days. California (GPTM 050 CA 0325 A) differs: one year to file, but only 180 days for requested records.

48 hours for a vet visit and 90 days for the claim:

“a. Visit a veterinary clinic within forty-eight (48) hours after first noticing clinical sign(s) relating to an illness or injury. b. Complete and send to us a claim form describing the loss as soon as practicable but no later than ninety (90) days after the date of treatment.”

The 48-hour rule appears twice in the policy, in VII.2.a and VII.6.d. The policy names no specific penalty for it. But item d of the same list ends with: “Failure to comply with these conditions may result in a claim not being covered.” And in the Texas and Washington policies, exclusion kk removes cover when conditions in sections VII or VIII have not been met.

270 days for requested records. If Fetch asks for more records, the clock runs from the date you filed the claim:

“all requested documentation must be received by us within 9 months (270 days) of the date the claim is submitted. If not received within that timeframe, the claim will be denied and closed. You will not have the opportunity to re-open the claim after the timeframe has passed.”

90 days to appeal. In the Pennsylvania policy: “All requests to appeal your claim must be made in writing to us within ninety (90) days of the denial of your claim by us.” The policy does not say whether a claim closed under the 270-day rule can be appealed.

Cancelling the policy. In Washington, Fetch may cancel the policy for several reasons, among them if you “fail to send us relevant information in respect to a claim”. Normally a cancellation does not affect claims from before it. Fetch adds an exception:

“Cancellation shall be without prejudice to any claim occurring prior to the effective date of cancellation, except if any condition above in item c. is present.”

Item c also includes the broad reason “material failure to comply with policy terms and conditions”. The Washington endorsement requires at least 45 days’ written notice of cancellation with the reason. The Arizona policy has the same reasons and the same exception. In Texas an endorsement replaces the list: after the first 60 days, Fetch may cancel only for reasons such as fraud, unpaid premium, violence or abusive behavior, and the two reasons above are not on it.

Sources: Fetch, Texas, GPTM 050 1125 A + GPTM 100-TX 0124 A, VII.2.a–b (p. 13), VII.2.e (p. 14); Fetch, Washington, GPTM 050 WA 1125 A + GPTM 100-WA 0124 A, VII.2 (pp. 13–14), V.kk (p. 12), VIII.6.c and VIII.6.f (pp. 16–17); Fetch, Pennsylvania, GPTM 050 PA 1125 A, VII.2 (p. 14), VIII.2 Appeals (p. 16); Fetch, New Jersey, GPTM 050 PML NJ 0326 A, VII.2.b and VII.2.e (p. 14). Policies for other states are on Fetch’s terms page.

Embrace: 60 days after the policy year ends

Embrace counts from the end of the policy year, not from the vet visit. Every bill from a year must be reported within 60 days after the policy ends or renews:

“You must provide us with notice of loss within 60 days of your policy end date or Renewal.”

Embrace’s disclosure puts it more strictly:

“All Claims must be submitted during the policy term that was in force when the Claim occurred or within sixty (60) days of the end of that term. If the Claim is not submitted within the required time frame, the Claim will be closed and not processed.”

For a bill from early in the year that is a lot: about 14 months. That is more than any brand on this page that counts from treatment. For a bill from late in the year it is about 60 days.

Embrace may also require an “examination under oath” and a signed statement of your answers. A lawsuit is possible only after “full compliance with all of the terms”, and it must be started within three years after the date of loss.

Open claims at Embrace can also be lost another way. If you do not tell Embrace about another policy on the same pet, it may treat that as concealment:

“Failure to do so may be considered concealment and may render Coverage provided under this policy null and void and all outstanding Claims shall be forfeited and not paid.”

Embrace shows the same V6 text for 48 jurisdictions, including Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, Washington, New Jersey, California, Florida, New York and Illinois. Kansas, New Mexico and South Carolina get version V5, with the same deadline: “during the policy term or within sixty (60) days of the end of that term”.

Sources: Embrace Pet Health Insurance V6, Part VI, Your Duties in the Event of a Claim, Other Insurance, Suit Against Us; Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions, INDPP (01/23), p. 2, Basis for Claims Payments; terms version by state.

Trupanion: 90 days

“You must submit a fully-completed claim form and supporting invoice(s) for each and every Illness or Injury for which a claim is made within 90 days of the treatment date.”

The policy names no consequence. Trupanion publishes only a national sample; we found no state-specific one.

Source: Trupanion, Medical Insurance for the Life of Your Pet, TRU (D) 00001 (V10.201902), section 5.A, p. 10.

Pets Best: 180 days and a complete medical history

“You must submit a complete claim form and supporting paid invoices(s) within 180 days of the Treatment date.”

Pets Best may also deny a claim if you do not provide the pet’s complete medical history when asked:

“If you cannot (or refuse) to disclose a complete medical history for your Pet when requested, we may deny your claim(s).”

The same 180 days are in the samples for Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington.

Sources: Pets Best, Texas, IAIC-PB10001-ILL, section 7.B, p. 9; Pets Best, New Jersey, IAIC-PB10001-ILL, sections 7.B (p. 9) and 7.D.4 (p. 10).

Figo: 180 days “or as soon as reasonably practicable”

“All Claims must be submitted and received by Us within one hundred eighty (180) calendar days, or as soon as reasonably practicable, of the Treatment date or date of the receipt furnished to You in connection with such Professional Services.”

The words “or as soon as reasonably practicable” leave some room: the deadline is not absolute. The policy names no consequence for missing it. An appeal is due within 90 days of the Explanation of Benefits, with the same allowance:

“All requests for an appeal must be submitted to Us within ninety (90) days, or as soon as reasonably practicable, of the date on Your Explanation of Benefits”

The same 180 days are in the samples for Arizona, Illinois and Indiana.

Sources: Figo, Texas, IAIC FPI POL AI TX 1025, Part VII How to File a Claim; Figo, Pennsylvania, IAIC FPI POL PA 0424, p. 13 and Part VIII Appeals and Complaints, p. 14.

Spot, ASPCA and Pumpkin: 270 days

In the samples we read, all three brands are insured by Independence American (IAIC) on one form, PET-P-20000. Apart from Fetch in California (one year), this is the longest deadline counted from treatment:

“You must submit your claim within 270 days from the date of service.”

The same form adds: “Failure to provide complete information may result in: Denial of your claim.” That is about incomplete information; for missing the 270 days the form names no consequence. The samples for Arizona and Texas have the same 270 days.

Sources: Spot, Texas, PET-P-20000-1024 with endorsement PET-AE-20000-TX-0723, Claims, p. 6; ASPCA, Pennsylvania, PET-P-20000-PA-0425, Claims, p. 8; Pumpkin, New Jersey, PET-P-20000-NJ-1024 (March 2026), Claims, p. 6.

Healthy Paws: no deadline, but a claim can be left unprocessed

Healthy Paws’s general form sets no filing deadline. But while information about the pet’s history is incomplete, the claim does not move:

“In the event information relating to the history of the pet is missing or incomplete, the claim will not be processed.”

That is a hold, not a denial: the policy does not say the claim will be refused.

Source: Healthy Paws / Westchester Fire, Pet Health Insurance Policy LD-50812 (07/18), III. General Conditions, item 10, p. 4.

What state law says

  • Arizona. No pet insurance law. A.R.S. 20-1115 bars suit limits that are too short: for most lines of insurance, no less than two years from when the cause of action accrues; for property and marine or transportation insurance, one year from the event that caused the loss. A clause that breaks these rules is void. Pet insurance is usually filed as inland marine, but Arizona’s regulator lists it separately from inland marine, so it is unclear which rule applies. If the two-year rule applies, Nationwide’s one-year-from-first-treatment clause is void and you have two years from when the cause of action accrues. If the one-year rule applies, the statute’s own limit is close to the policy’s. Separately, secondary sources say Zuckerman v. Transamerica (1982) bars an insurer from enforcing a suit limit unless it shows the delay harmed it. We did not check that citation against the official opinion.
  • Texas. No pet insurance law. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §16.071(a), if a contract requires notice of a claim before you can sue, that term must be reasonable. The section goes on: “A stipulation that requires notification within less than 90 days is void.” Every Texas deadline counted from treatment is 90 days or longer. Under Embrace’s rule, treatment late in the policy year may leave less than 90 days, and then the clause may be void. We did not confirm that Texas courts apply §16.071 to pet policies. Fetch’s 48-hour rule is a duty to get care, not a notice deadline. A neighboring section, §16.070, voids any contract term that gives less than two years to sue. Nationwide’s Texas form gives one year from the first treatment, and the file posted for Texas has no Texas endorsement that changes this. Read literally, §16.070 makes that clause void in Texas. Fetch’s Texas endorsement, for comparison, gives two years and one day. We found no court decision applying §16.070 to a pet policy.
  • Pennsylvania. The pet insurance law (40 Pa.C.S. §§4701–4711) sets no deadline for a claim or an appeal. On filing claims, it only requires insurers to accept them by mail and electronically. Brakeman v. Potomac (1977), as it is usually described, requires an insurer to show it was harmed by late notice. We did not check it and do not know whether courts apply it to pet policies.
  • Washington. RCW 48.205 says nothing about claim deadlines, records deadlines or how a cancellation affects earlier claims.
  • New Jersey. The pet insurance law (P.L. 2025 c.224) takes effect on 1 January 2027 and does not deal with claim deadlines. New Jersey courts (Cooper v. GEICO, 1968) require an insurer to show “appreciable prejudice” from late notice. But every case we found involves liability and similar policies. Whether the rule would stop Fetch’s deadlines on a pet claim is untested. Another decision, Peloso v. Hartford Fire (1970), pauses a policy’s suit limit from notice of loss until a formal denial. We have not verified whether it applies to pet policies such as Nationwide’s.
  • Illinois. No pet insurance law. We found no law that overrides Embrace’s 60-day deadline. For lawsuits, 215 ILCS 5/143.1 pauses a policy’s time limit from the day proof of loss is filed until the claim is denied. It covers all policies except life, accident and health, fidelity and surety, and ocean marine. As we read it, it covers pet policies, so Nationwide’s one-year clock stops while a claim is under review. We found no court decision on a pet policy.
  • Florida. Fla. Stat. 95.03 voids any contract term that gives less time to sue than the statute of limitations. Nationwide’s Florida form (VS-G-15 3-26, the same file as for Texas) gives one year from the first treatment, so in Florida this clause may be void. We did not check which limitation period a court would apply to a pet policy.

Embrace’s policy, and Fetch’s in Washington, have a clause that amends any term that conflicts with state law to match it.

A worked example with dates

Nationwide. A pet is first treated on 1 March 2026. The owner collects the bills and files a claim on 15 February 2027. More than 90 days have passed, so Nationwide may deny it for late notice. Less than 12 months have passed, so the hard 12-month bar does not apply yet. But under the policy, the time to sue ends on 1 March 2027, two weeks after the claim was filed. If Nationwide denies the claim after that, it is already too late to sue under the policy’s terms. State law can change this. In Illinois the clock stops from the day the claim is filed until the denial, so the owner would still have those two weeks after a denial. In Arizona, Texas and Florida the one-year clause may be void (see the section on state law).

Embrace. The policy year starts on 1 January. A bill from 10 January can be sent until early March of the following year, about 14 months. A bill from 20 December must be sent by the same early March, about 70 days.

What to do

  • File a claim right after every visit. Do not save bills up until the end of the year. The shortest deadlines we read are 90 days at Fetch and Trupanion and 90 days’ notice at Nationwide. At Embrace a bill from late in the year leaves about 60 days.
  • Find every deadline in your policy and write it down. Look for sections called “Your Duties”, “Claims”, “How to File a Claim”, “Appeals” and “Suit Against Us”. For each deadline, note the date it counts from: treatment, filing, denial or the end of the policy year.
  • With Fetch, take your pet to a vet within 48 hours of first noticing signs of illness or injury. Keep the record of the visit.
  • Send requested records right away. Request the records from every clinic at once and keep proof that you sent them. Fetch allows 270 days from the date you filed the claim; in California, 180.
  • Keep proof that you filed: an email, a screenshot, the claim number.
  • With Nationwide, ask in writing whether the 90 days and 12 months count from each visit or from the first treatment of the condition. If a claim is still undecided and the year since the first treatment is nearly up, do not wait: dispute the delay in writing and ask a lawyer how to protect your right to sue.
  • If you are denied for lateness, ask for the denial in writing with the policy clause it relies on. Appeal in time: 90 days at Fetch and Figo. Complain to your state’s insurance department and cite the state law if there is one (see above).
  • Compare deadlines before you buy. Spot, ASPCA and Pumpkin give 270 days from treatment; only Fetch in California gives more, one year. Pets Best and Figo give 180 days, Figo with the words “or as soon as reasonably practicable”. Healthy Paws sets no filing deadline. What else to check in a policy is in what is in a policy. Claim deadlines by brand are also on the state pages for Pennsylvania and Illinois. The Texas page lists the deadlines the insurer itself must meet when it decides a claim.

Sources

History

  1. First published