--- title: Why Don’t More People Have Pet Insurance? description: A 2026 Money and Healthy Paws Pet Insurance survey found that cost isn't the main reason owners skip coverage. Here's what is. authors: - name: Liliana Hall role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/liliana-hall/ bio: Liliana Hall joined Money in 2025. She is an Austin-based reporter for Money, where she covers a range of topics, including financial news, policy, banking, investing, passive income, financial planning and student loan debt. education: University of Texas at Austin at_money_since: 2025 articles: 138 covers: - Insurance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://x.com/lilihallllllll - https://www.linkedin.com/in/liliana-hall/ published: '2026-09-29T16:37:50.000Z' modified: '2026-09-29T16:37:50.000Z' section: Insurance tags: - Sponsored word_count: 1015 canonical: https://money.com/why-dont-more-people-have-pet-insurance/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Close-up of a woman hugging her dog outside](https://img.money.com/2026/09/Insurance-Pet-Why-Dont-People.jpg) ## Key Takeaways - Pet insurance can offset unexpected veterinary costs, which have risen by 43% since 2021, according to Money and Healthy Paws research. - More than 95% of pets in the U.S. are uninsured, according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. - Waiting until a pet needs care to buy insurance can backfire because of waiting periods, premiums rising with age and exclusion of pre-existing conditions. Sponsored by: ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/35945/1bb92553-9c42-4ba8-bff9-9da0ab7ac8f1.webp) Offer your life companion a pet insurance that nearly half a million pet parents trust: Healthy Paws. [Go to HealthyPawsPetInsurance.com](https://money.com/pr/l2c756a36c31?ap_referrer=%2Fwhy-dont-more-people-have-pet-insurance%2F&apxa1=homepage) Pet insurance is more common than it used to be, but it's still the exception, not the rule. More than 95% of pets are uninsured, according to the North American Pet Health Insurance Association. That leaves most owners paying vet bills out of pocket, even as those bills [keep climbing](https://money.com/lifetime-cost-of-owning-a-dog-or-cat/). For the youngest pet owners, though, price isn't the biggest barrier. In a 2026 [survey](https://www.healthypawspetinsurance.com/pet-insurance-research/the-future-of-pet-ownership-how-rising-costs-are-shaping-gen-z-budgets.html) from Money and Healthy Paws Pet Insurance, 28% of uninsured Gen Z pet owners said they hadn't gotten around to considering coverage, and 22% didn't know it existed. Only 18% pointed to expensive premiums. Cost still matters. But for Gen Z, it's one piece of a complicated equation that looks different for every household. ## **Why pet owners go without insurance** For pet owners, deciding whether to buy coverage means weighing the cost of insurance against the risk of an expensive vet bill — and deciding how much financial uncertainty they’re willing to take on. The need for pet insurance can feel far off for owners with a young, healthy pet. Paying a monthly premium might not seem to make financial sense. But as veterinary costs continue to rise, an unexpected illness or injury can quickly turn into a significant expense. ### They expect to self-insure Some pet owners may be comfortable skipping insurance and setting money aside themselves. “If you are a disciplined saver and are confident that you can contribute on a regular basis to an emergency fund, self-insuring can work,” says Bobbi Rebell, chief financial education advisor at Accredited Debt Relief. “But keep in mind, it only works if the money is there before you need it.” That can be hard for owners who are starting from scratch. Setting aside $100 a month, for example, would give you $1,200 after a year, but it would not protect you from a $5,000 or $10,000 veterinary bill during that first year. Keeping those savings in an [interest-bearing](https://money.com/best-high-yield-savings-accounts/) account can help the balance grow while that money is unused, but it still takes time to build a substantial cushion. Pet insurance, by contrast, can provide coverage for medical emergencies before you have had time to build a comparable savings balance. ### They think they have more time to decide Waiting to get coverage can create affordability obstacles, Rebell notes. “A young, healthy pet with no history of ailments is going to be a lot more affordable to insure,” she says. Premiums rise with age, so waiting until your cat or dog is considered “senior” — typically eight years old for dogs and 10 years for cats, depending on the breed — might not be the money-saver you think it will be. Some insurers also place [age limits](https://money.com/how-breed-and-age-impact-pet-insurance/) on new policies, meaning waiting too long could shrink your options for coverage. [Waiting periods and exclusions](https://money.com/how-to-buy-pet-insurance/) can further complicate the picture. A policy may not cover an illness or injury that occurs during its waiting period, and certain conditions may be excluded based on a pet’s health history or breed. Once a condition is considered [pre-existing](https://money.com/pet-insurance-for-pre-existing-conditions/), a new policy generally won’t cover treatment related to it. That can leave pet owners paying for coverage while still footing the bill for the condition that prompted them to seek it. “Every policy has its own specifications, so all the small print matters, and has to be read and understood,” Rebell says. ### Policies can be hard to compare Pet insurance works differently than health insurance for people, so figuring out what a policy actually covers — and how much it would pay toward a vet bill — can be difficult. “How and when it pays varies widely, so there is a lot of room for misunderstanding,” Rebell says. “The premium is the most visible number, \[but\] ironically, not the most useful in comparing policies.” Owners need to understand [how the policy deductible works](https://money.com/how-to-buy-pet-insurance/), how much of a covered bill the insurer will reimburse and whether the policy has annual or lifetime limits. The [reimbursement rate](https://money.com/how-to-buy-pet-insurance/) is the percentage of a covered veterinary bill the insurer pays after you’ve met your deductible. Reimbursement rates of 70%, 80% or 90%, for example, can significantly affect what hits your family’s bottom line. With many policies, owners pay the veterinarian upfront and [then submit a claim](https://money.com/how-to-make-a-pet-insurance-claim/) to their insurer for reimbursement. That means having insurance doesn’t necessarily eliminate the need for some emergency savings or another way to cover the initial bill. ### A young or healthy pet can make insurance feel unnecessary When a pet is young and healthy, there may be little reason to expect a major veterinary bill, making a monthly insurance premium feel unnecessary. But a young pet can still have a costly accident or illness. Unexpected emergencies can get expensive quickly. The [average emergency veterinary visit](https://money.com/how-much-is-an-emergency-vet-visit/) can cost anywhere from $250 to $8,000, according to data from medical financing company CareCredit. Treatment costs for foreign-body ingestion — the kind of emergency that can happen when a curious puppy swallows something it shouldn’t — have increased about 45% since 2020, according to Healthy Paws [claims data](https://www.healthypawspetinsurance.com/pet-insurance-research/soaring-pet-costs-are-pushing-household-budgets-to-the-limit.html). An intestinal blockage can cost up to $10,000 to treat. ### Peace of mind can be difficult to measure “Pet insurance… is more \[of\] an investment in peace of mind,” Rebell says. That can be difficult to put a dollar value on, especially if your pet stays healthy and you never have to file a claim. But for owners who would struggle to cover a large veterinary bill, knowing that some of those costs could be reimbursed may be worth the monthly premium. Money and Healthy Paws found that pet parents report being stressed when faced with unexpected costs. Almost 1 in 5 of those surveyed said a surprise vet bill of any amount would create a major strain. “This is really more of a risk tolerance question than a purely financial one,” Rebell notes. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/why-dont-more-people-have-pet-insurance/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Pet Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/pet-insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Why Don’t More People Have Pet Insurance?" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/why-dont-more-people-have-pet-insurance/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/why-dont-more-people-have-pet-insurance/", "name": "Why Don’t More People Have Pet Insurance?", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2026-09-29T16:37:50.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/why-dont-more-people-have-pet-insurance/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/why-dont-more-people-have-pet-insurance/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2026-09-29T16:37:50.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Why Don’t More People Have Pet Insurance?", "articleSection": "Insurance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2026/09/Insurance-Pet-Why-Dont-People.jpg", "width": 2147, "height": 1432, "caption": "Insurance-Pet-Why-Dont-People" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Liliana Hall", "url": "https://money.com/author/liliana-hall/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/liliana-hall/#author", "description": "Liliana Hall joined Money in 2025. She is an Austin-based reporter for Money, where she covers a range of topics, including financial news, policy, banking, investing, passive income, financial planning and student loan debt.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2025/03/Hall_headshot.jpg?quality=85&w=640&h=640&crop=1", "email": "liliana.hall@money.com", "jobTitle": "Reporter", "alumniOf": "University of Texas at Austin", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/lilihallllllll", "https://www.linkedin.com/in/liliana-hall/" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2026-09-29T16:37:50.000Z", "description": "A 2026 Money and Healthy Paws Pet Insurance survey found that cost isn't the main reason owners skip coverage. Here's what is.", "abstract": "A 2026 Money and Healthy Paws Pet Insurance survey found that cost isn't the main reason owners skip coverage. Here's what is.", "@id": "https://money.com/why-dont-more-people-have-pet-insurance/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2026-09-29T16:37:50.000Z", "wordCount": 1015, "keywords": [ "Sponsored" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Insurance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Pet insurance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_insurance" ] } ] } ] } ```