The industry has now reached the $1 billion point, according to a new NAPHIA report.
As pet insurance popularity grows as it never has before, it has now become a $1 billion industry, says a North American Pet Insurance Association (NAPHIA) report. The report states that the average year over year growth rate has been nearly 17 percent, says the 2018 NAPHIA State of the Industry Report (SOI).
This year also represented the first time the industry surpassed the $1 billion threshold.
Pet insurance popularity drove the industry’s gross written premium (GWP) over $1 billion by the close of 2017. This represented a 15 percent growth over the year before. This growth rate has been steadily taking off in North America, as was previously reported on Live Insurance News.
The SOI Report uses independently gathered data to track trends. The data is gathered by member companies on their own. Pets Best pet insurance uses the SOI Report results as a benchmark, according to the insurer. Dr. Jack Stephens, the pet insurance company’s founder, first launched the insurer in the United States and wrote its first policy in 1981.
It took quite a while for pet insurance popularity to take off in North America.
While the coverage gained traction quite quickly in other markets, North America was far slower to catch on. Upon the inception of the first pet insurance company in the United States, Stephens brought together over 900 veterinarians. By 2005, Stephen’s had co-founded Pets Best. He added a range of different innovative options at the time, including online enrollment and claims processing. Furthermore, the goal was to produce a reimbursement model more appealing to consumers. That strategy has become today’s industry standard, according to officials from that insurer.
“We have a very unique perspective of how far the pet insurance industry has come, because Jack [Stephens] was there from the very beginning,” said Pets Best president, Chris Middleton. “Trends will come and go, but Pets Best has always been dedicated to Dr. Stephen’s original mission to end economic euthanasia.”
The pet insurance popularity at that insurer is in part due to the company’s customizable plans and its goal for rapid reimbursements. Many other pet insurers are also following suit.
