Now, health insurance reform for California pets

August 3, 2010 | Christina Jewett, California Watch

California lawmakers busy hammering out details of health care reform for humans also threw a bone to dogs and cats, advancing a bill that would regulate pet health insurance.

Little of the brokering that surrounded human health reform was evident yesterday morning when the bill sailed out of the Senate appropriations committee, where it is set for full-session Assembly and Senate votes before going to the governor.

The bill’s author and a candidate for state insurance commissioner (and, let’s not forget, owner of cats, Dragon and Blanca) Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, said he wrote the bill after hearing from people who were unhappy with their pet policies.

"A number of pet owners have complained to me that they bought a policy, and they weren't told about pre-existing conditions," Jones told Cathy Bussewitz of the AP.

The bill's analysis says costs for veterinary care increased 70 percent between 2000 and 2005, driving more consumers to buy pet policies.

The bill would significantly increase the amount and types of information that pet insurers will be required to share with consumers. The law mandates disclosure of co-pays, lifetime benefit limits and restrictions based on pre-existing conditions.

Jones' bill initially sought to ban pet insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions. But the pet insurance industry pushed back, saying the provision would make coverage more expensive for everyone.

'The problem with that is that nobody would buy pet insurance until their pet gets sick,' (said Michale Hemstreet, founder of petinsurancereview.com.)

Stripping the provision from the bill prompted Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), the nation's largest pet insurer, to support the legislation.

The bill's supporters include PawPAC and the Humane Society of the United States, which is no mongrel in terms of lobbying. The group spent $27,000 this year lobbying on this bill and others. The tab includes the cost of a catered event attended by more than two dozen legislative staffers.

If passed, the bill would be the first of its kind in the U.S.

That, and perhaps the biggest landmark in pet insurance history since the first policy was sold to cover Lassie in 1982.