The Pet Treatment Index

Pet Insurance Orthopedic Coverage Database

The Pet Treatment Index Editorial Desk · Independent pet-treatment research

Published: August 24, 2026 · Last reviewed: August 24, 2026 · Last verified: August 24, 2026
Source editions: NAIC Pet Insurance Model Act #633 (Summer 2022); NAIC Model #633 state activity page (Summer 2025); current state provisions and carrier documents checked August 24, 2026.

Veterinary review status: Not completed. If a licensed veterinarian reviews this page, we will name the reviewer, credential, scope, and date. Insurance or legal review status: Not completed. This page compares public statutes and public policy documents. It is not a personalized insurance recommendation and not legal advice.

There is no single orthopedic waiting period for U.S. pet insurance. The number is set by your state and by the form your carrier actually issues there. As of August 24, 2026, we confirmed sixteen states with an effective law or regulation that caps non-accident illness or orthopedic waiting periods at 30 days, prohibits accident waiting periods, and requires an examination-based waiver. New Jersey has enacted a similar rule, but it does not take effect until January 1, 2027. This pet insurance orthopedic coverage database shows what the current state provisions say and what each verified carrier disclosure says. Start with your state.

Educational information for pet owners — not veterinary advice, a diagnosis, a treatment recommendation, personalized insurance advice, or legal advice. A veterinarian's exam and diagnosis set treatment. Your state's current law, the policy and endorsements actually issued to you, your pet's full medical record, and the insurer's claim decision control coverage. If you believe your pet may be experiencing an emergency, contact a veterinarian or emergency animal hospital immediately.

This page contains no compensated links and no paid placements. The Pet Treatment Index is not an insurer, an insurance producer, or a marketplace. Nobody paid to appear in this database.

This applies to you if

  • You are in the United States with a dog or cat that currently has no related signs, veterinary advice, diagnosis, or treatment plan.
  • You are buying a first policy, renewing, comparing, or you enrolled recently and want to know whether a waiver window is still open.
  • You want the source document and the clause, not a company recommendation.
  • You accept that a row in a register identifies a provision — it does not promise that a future claim will be paid.

This is not your situation if

  • Your pet is limping, in pain, or has a diagnosis, veterinary advice, or a surgery recommendation. Go to the care-now section below.
  • You are holding an orthopedic estimate or have surgery scheduled.
  • You are appealing a claim that has already been denied.
  • You are looking at a wellness subscription, a horse or livestock policy, an exotic-pet policy, or coverage outside the United States.

Start with timing, not with a brand

Timing decides whether this register helps you at all. It is built for owners planning ahead. If related signs, veterinary advice, a diagnosis, or a treatment recommendation already exist, a policy bought today generally will not pay for care tied to that history, and no register changes that.

Your situation Can this register help? What it answers What it cannot answer Best next step
Healthy pet, planning ahead Yes Your state's statutory cap, what the carrier's own document states, waiver rules Which company is best for you; what a future claim will pay Read your state's row, then open your carrier's own state document
Enrolled recently, still inside the window Yes, and it is time-sensitive Whether a waiver route exists and what it requires Whether your specific exam result will be treated as clear Find the waiver deadline this week
Existing policy, considering a switch Partly What the replacement contract's provisions say Whether your current conditions carry over Compare both contracts before canceling anything
Related signs, advice, diagnosis, or an estimate in hand No — — Keep care on track; use the policy already in force
Pet may need urgent care now No — — Contact your veterinarian or an emergency animal hospital now. Do not delay care to research insurance.

Why we put timing first is explained in how we research pet-insurance coverage.

The pet insurance orthopedic coverage register: what we read, and what it says

Every row below is one carrier's own posted document, for one state, read by us on a stated date, set beside that state's current statutory or regulatory cap. Where a document does not address a field, the cell says so. Nothing here is copied from a comparison site.

Table 1. Verified rows — carrier disclosure vs. state cap

Scope: U.S. retail accident-and-illness pet policies. Species: as stated in each document. Units: days and months exactly as each document writes them. Method: we opened each carrier's posted disclosure and the controlling state provision and recorded the stated terms. Read on: August 24, 2026. What this table is not: a score, rating, recommendation, issued-policy substitute, or prediction that any claim will be paid.

Program / issuing insurer State and source document Orthopedic wait as written Accident wait as written Illness wait State rule and document status
Embrace program — American Modern Home Insurance Company California — Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions, form marker 2016.C.CA.1 6 months, dogs only; reducible to 14 days by a post-start orthopedic exam if clear of pre-existing conditions 48 hours or 14 days, depending on state 14 days California caps non-accident illness or orthopedic waits at 30 days and prohibits accident waits. This is a posted carrier disclosure with a 2016 form marker; we did not confirm that it governs a California policy issued today.
Companion Protect program — CSAA General Insurance Company; administered by Companion Protect Agency, LLC California — CSAAPHI001DCA 1224 30 days, non-accident orthopedic only None for injuries or accident-caused orthopedic conditions 15 days 30-day cap; accident waits prohibited — Cal. Ins. Code §12880.7. Posted disclosure; the issued policy and endorsements still control.
Companion Protect program — CSAA General Insurance Company; administered by Companion Protect Agency, LLC Maryland — CSAAPHI001MMD 092024 30 days, non-accident orthopedic only None 15 days 30-day cap; accident waits prohibited — Md. Code, Ins. §19-1105. Posted disclosure; the issued policy and endorsements still control.
Companion Protect program — CSAA General Insurance Company; administered by Companion Protect Agency, LLC Ohio — CSAAPHI001DOH 1224 30 days, non-accident orthopedic only None 15 days 30-day cap; accident waits prohibited — Ohio Rev. Code §3970.05. Posted disclosure; the issued policy and endorsements still control.
Companion Protect program — CSAA General Insurance Company; administered by Companion Protect Agency, LLC Pennsylvania — CSAAPHID001PA 0924 30 days, non-accident orthopedic only None 15 days 30-day cap; accident waits prohibited — 40 Pa.C.S. §4706. Posted disclosure; the issued policy and endorsements still control.
Companion Protect program — CSAA General Insurance Company; administered by Companion Protect Agency, LLC Delaware — CSAAPHI001DDE 1023 Not stated in this document Not stated 15 days Delaware law supplies the 30-day cap and prohibits accident waits, but this posted disclosure does not state the orthopedic or accident wait. The issued policy and endorsements still control.

Row detail. All five Companion Protect program disclosures name CSAA General Insurance Company as the insurer and Companion Protect Agency, LLC as the administrator, and all five state that a medical examination is not required to issue the policy. The free-look period is not uniform: 30 days in California, Delaware, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and 10 days with a pro-rata refund in Maryland. The Maryland document goes further than the others and writes the statutory definitions of Orthopedic Condition, Pre-existing Condition, Renewal and Waiting Period directly into the policy, including the rule that a condition covered on a prior policy is not pre-existing on renewal.

Limitations. These are posted carrier documents, not the full contract issued after an individual quote. Wording changes by state, form edition, issue date and endorsement. The Embrace California row has an additional limitation: its form marker is from 2016, and we did not confirm that it governs a policy issued today. A row identifies a provision. It cannot tell you how an insurer will treat the facts in one pet's medical record.

Database coverage. 2 program/document sources · 6 state documents · 6 of the 16 states with an effective model-style cap represented in at least one carrier-document row. We are expanding this in dated batches, and we publish the count rather than hiding it. The other programs researched for this draft sit in the held-out document queue below.

Table 2. Held-out document queue — what still needs a controlling form

The programs below still operate, and their public materials can help locate the documents. They are not comparison findings. We removed unconfirmed numbers and classifications rather than let a help page, marketing page or old summary stand in for the current state policy. A program moves into Table 1 only after we read the controlling state disclosure, policy and relevant endorsements.

Brand or program Why no verified row appears yet What must be read before it becomes a row
Embrace California is the only posted disclosure in Table 1; remaining state values and current governing forms have not been collected as a dated batch Each state's current disclosure, sample policy and endorsements, with the selector value recorded separately
Healthy Paws No current controlling state form has been read for this register State disclosure or sample policy, orthopedic and bilateral provisions, and endorsements
Nationwide Terms can be plan-specific; a company-wide number would be misleading One row per current plan, state, form and endorsement
Lemonade Current official waiting-period material says 30 days for orthopedic conditions, while a separate current ACL article uses a six-month example The current state policy form and any cruciate or orthopedic endorsement; no cruciate number until the conflict is resolved
Fetch by The Dodo No controlling state form or exam-waiver document has been read for this register Current state policy, waiver language, bilateral provision and endorsements
Figo No controlling state form or current waiver form has been read for this register Current state policy, waiver form, deadline, abnormal-finding treatment and endorsements
Pets Best Public material says terms vary; the declarations and state form have not been collected Current state form, declarations language, waiver document and endorsements
AKC Pet Insurance / PetPartners Plan, state, form edition and continuous-coverage terms have not been separated Current state policy and endorsements for each plan represented
Spot No controlling state-form batch has been read Current state policy, knee/ligament and bilateral wording, and endorsements
Pumpkin No controlling state form has been read Current state policy, orthopedic and bilateral language, plan scope and endorsements
ASPCA Pet Health / Hartville No current state form has been read for the bilateral provision Current state policy, exact bilateral wording and endorsements
MetLife Pet Retail and employer products have not been separated Current retail state forms, employer forms kept separate, and endorsements
Trupanion No current retail state form has been read for the lookback and bilateral treatment Current retail state policy, exact lookback wording and endorsements
Prudent Pet A current controlling form or dated confirmation has not been read Current state policy, knee/ligament provision, waiver document and endorsements

How we work the queue. The NAIC model requires an Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions, a conspicuous link from the insurer's main page, and delivery of that disclosure with a new policy. In states whose enacted law includes that publication requirement, we start there. Otherwise, we use the carrier's state-documents page, sample policy and endorsements, and we say exactly which document we used.

What we found in California, and what we are not saying

Embrace links a document from its own site footer labeled "Notice to California Residents." We opened it on August 24, 2026. It carries the form marker 2016.C.CA.1 and states an orthopedic waiting period of six months for dogs, an accident waiting period of 48 hours or 14 days depending on state, and a 14-day illness wait.

California Insurance Code §12880.7, added by SB 1217 (Stats. 2024, Ch. 612) and effective January 1, 2025, says a pet insurer may impose waiting periods that do not exceed 30 days for illnesses or orthopedic conditions not resulting from an accident, and that a pet insurance policy shall not impose a waiting period for accidents.

Those two things do not line up, and we are telling you plainly rather than smoothing it over.

We are reporting what a posted document says next to what a statute says. We are not alleging a violation. The PDF carries a 2016 form marker and may be a legacy file. The policy actually issued in California today may use different documents or endorsements. We did not request a quote or obtain an issued policy, so we could not confirm which form governs a new California policy today. We would rather say so than guess.

What the gap is genuinely good for is this: it is the exact question to put to a carrier in writing. What is the orthopedic waiting period on the policy you would issue to me, in my state, today — and which document states it? Ask it before you enroll, not after your dog limps.

What most owners get wrong

The "six to twelve months" answer is not reliable enough to use nationally. State law and state forms can cut straight across it. Embrace's state-specific values sit behind a selector, while the posted California disclosure and current California statute point in different directions. The state-specific truth is harder to reach than the shorthand, which is exactly why you should ask for the governing form.

What the law caps, and where

The NAIC Pet Insurance Model Act is model language written by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. It is not federal law and it binds nobody on its own. Where a state enacts it, the state's own text and the issued policy control. The NAIC's state chart says the same thing and calls itself a starting point.

Table 3. The provisions that decide an orthopedic claim

Source: NAIC Pet Insurance Model Act, Model #633, Summer 2022 edition, read in full on August 24, 2026. Scope: model language only; a state's enacted text may differ.

Section What it says Why it changes your answer
§3.D Defines orthopedic as conditions affecting bones, skeletal muscle, cartilage, tendons, ligaments and joints — expressly including elbow dysplasia, hip dysplasia, intervertebral disc degeneration, patellar luxation and ruptured cranial cruciate ligaments, and expressly excluding cancers and metabolic, hemopoietic and autoimmune disease Where enacted without a material change, this sets the statutory category
§5.B Waiting periods may not exceed 30 days for illnesses or orthopedic conditions not resulting from an accident. Waiting periods for accidents are prohibited A longer clock needs classification: waiting period, exclusion period, legacy form, or a document mismatch
§5.B(1) A policy using a permitted waiting period must contain a provision allowing the wait to be waived after a medical examination. The insurer may require the exam after purchase and may specify what it includes, but not in a way that unreasonably restricts the ability to waive. The policyholder pays unless the policy says otherwise The waiver is a required contract term where this language is enacted, not a courtesy
§5.A The pet insurer has the burden of proving that a pre-existing-condition exclusion applies to the condition being claimed The insurer must substantiate the exclusion under the enacted version
§3.F A condition is pre-existing if a veterinarian gave medical advice, the pet received previous treatment, or verifiable sources show signs or symptoms directly related to it — before the effective date or during any waiting period. A condition covered on a policy cannot be pre-existing on renewal of that policy Signs during the wait can count. Renewal with the same insurer is treated differently from a replacement policy
§3.J / §5.C Waiting periods may not be applied to renewals of existing coverage, and an insurer may not require a veterinary exam to renew Protects a renewal of existing coverage. A new carrier is a new contract
§4.F If a medical exam is required to effectuate coverage, the insurer must disclose what the exam requires before purchase and disclose that the exam documentation may result in a pre-existing-condition exclusion The exam that shortens the wait can also document an exclusion
§4.H–§4.J The insurer must publish a separate document titled Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions, link it conspicuously from its main page, and deliver it in at least 12-point type with a new policy This standardized disclosure is the backbone of the carrier-document register

Definitions used above. A waiting period is time that must pass before some or all coverage begins. A cranial cruciate ligament (CCL or CrCL) is the main stabilizing ligament inside a dog's knee; the human counterpart is the ACL. IVDD is intervertebral disc disease, a spinal disc problem. A bilateral condition is one that can affect both sides of the body, such as knees, hips, elbows and eyes.

Table 4. The sixteen states with an effective model-style cap

The NAIC Summer 2025 chart was our discovery starting point. We then opened the current controlling waiting-period section for every row on August 24, 2026. Each effective provision below contains the same core protections relevant here: no waiting period for accidents, no more than 30 days for non-accident illness or orthopedic conditions, and an examination-based waiver route. The precise state text, effective date and issued policy still control.

State Controlling provision read Status on August 24, 2026
California Cal. Ins. Code §12880.7 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Delaware Del. Code tit. 18, §8805 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Florida Fla. Stat. §627.71545(9) Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Hawaii HRS §431:33-105 Effective January 1, 2026; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Louisiana La. R.S. §22:1373 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Maine 24-A M.R.S. §3156 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Maryland Md. Code, Ins. §19-1105 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Mississippi 19 Miss. Admin. Code pt. 5, ch. 6, r. 6.04 Effective; the cap is in the insurance regulation, not only the enabling code chapter
Montana Mont. Code Ann. §33-24-405 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Nebraska Neb. Rev. Stat. §44-6506 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
New Hampshire N.H. Rev. Stat. §402-P:4 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Ohio Ohio Rev. Code §3970.05 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Pennsylvania 40 Pa.C.S. §4706 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Rhode Island R.I. Gen. Laws §27-83-4 Effective January 1, 2026; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Vermont 8 V.S.A. §7155 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed
Washington RCW 48.205.050 Effective; core waiting-period rule confirmed

Not counted yet: New Jersey enacted P.L. 2025, c.224 on January 12, 2026. Its model-style waiting-period section is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, so New Jersey is a refresh trigger, not part of the current sixteen.

One thing not to mistake for protection. Idaho, New Mexico, Tennessee and Utah appear on the NAIC chart under Related Activity, not Model Adoption. Those citations classify pet insurance for licensing purposes. They are not waiting-period caps.

A waiting period and an exclusion period are not the same thing

A waiting period ends. An exclusion period may not. If a policy says that a named condition appearing during the first 180 days is pre-existing for the life of the policy, then waiting out the window does not make that condition eligible — and the phrase "six-month waiting period" will never prompt you to ask about it.

What the document calls it What it means in plain terms If signs appear during the window Does time alone fix it?
Waiting period Coverage has not started yet for that category Can be treated as pre-existing under the wording Sometimes. Read what happens to signs that appeared inside it
Exclusion period A named set of conditions is carved out during the window Can remain excluded permanently No
Lookback period The insurer reviews history for a set time before the effective date Prior signs can reach forward No
Observation period Time used to establish whether a condition already existed Varies by wording No

Our verified example: the posted Embrace California notice describes a six-month dog orthopedic waiting period and, separately, defines pre-existing conditions to include an illness or injury that first occurred or showed clinical signs before the end of the waiting period. Same document, two mechanisms. When you read your own form, find both.

The waiver, its deadline, and the part nobody mentions

Where a current state provision in Table 4 applies, a policy using a permitted waiting period must offer a way to waive it after a medical examination. Some carrier versions in other states may offer an exam-based reduction as well. Those versions can impose a submission window or deadline, and the exam cuts both ways.

The posted Embrace California notice states the six-month orthopedic wait can be reduced to 14 days if an orthopedic exam is completed after the policy start date and is clear of pre-existing conditions — and, in the same paragraph, that the pre-existing-condition exclusion applies to anything found during that examination. The model act requires exactly that warning at §4.F: the insurer must disclose in advance that examination documentation may result in a pre-existing condition exclusion.

So the exam that shortens your wait can also record an exclusion. That is worth understanding before you request one.

To be completely clear: none of this is a reason to delay a veterinary visit. If your pet needs to be seen, take your pet in. An exam that finds something real found something real, and your pet's health is not an insurance variable. This page will never tell you to postpone care for a coverage reason.

Six things to pull out of your own document about the waiver: whether one exists in your state, the exam window, the submission deadline, who pays for the exam, what counts as a clear result, and whether the carrier confirms the revised date in writing.

Find your waiver deadline this week. Open your carrier's document for your state and search it for orthopedic, waiver, waiting period and exclusion. Write the deadline on your calendar. If the document does not name one, use the written request further down this page.

The bilateral clause: what happens to the other knee

A bilateral clause can link the left and right side of a paired structure — knees, hips, elbows, eyes. Whether it bars a healthy second knee depends on which version your form uses and on what your pet's record already shows.

The clinical context behind these clauses is specific. The American College of Veterinary Surgeons describes canine cranial cruciate ligament disease as usually degenerative rather than a single injury to a healthy ligament, and reports that 40% to 60% of dogs affected in one knee later develop a similar problem in the other. That is clinical context, not a coverage rule.

The wording is what decides coverage. Our verified example: the posted Embrace California notice states that if a pet had clinical signs of a bilateral condition on one side before being insured, future occurrences of the same condition on the other side will not be covered — and gives a cruciate tear in the left leg followed by the right leg as its own example. That version is conditional: it keys on prior signs. Other forms can use different wording; do not assume this version applies to another company, state or policy.

The word to search in your policy PDF is bilateral. Also search opposite, paired, cruciate and pre-existing. If the wording is unclear, ask the carrier in writing how it would classify the same condition on the second side, and keep the answer.

The broader buying tradeoff around this clause — how it interacts with annual limits and deductible structure when you are choosing a dog policy — is handled on best pet insurance for dogs. This page stays on what the documents say.

An eligible condition does not make every line item eligible

This is the next surprise to check after the waiting period. Coverage of an orthopedic condition and coverage of every charge on the invoice are different questions, and they live in different parts of the policy.

Check these separately in your own form. Do not assume any of them:

Charge What to verify in your form
Examination or office-visit fee Included in the base plan, available only through an add-on, or excluded
Specialist consultation Referral requirements, specialty restrictions, and whether the visit fee itself is eligible
Radiographs, CT, MRI Coverage, prior-authorization rules, sublimits and exclusions
Surgery and implants Whether implants, hardware and surgical materials are named or limited
Anesthesia and hospitalization Whether both are eligible and whether any separate limit applies
Prescription medication Included in the base plan, available through an add-on, or excluded
Follow-up imaging and rechecks Visit limits, time limits and how the deductible applies
Rehabilitation, physical therapy, hydrotherapy Included, add-on only, excluded, or subject to per-visit or annual caps
Orthotics, prosthetics, mobility devices Whether the policy defines and covers the device at all
Direct payment to the clinic Reimbursement after you pay, or a direct-pay option with separate requirements

An eighty-percent policy that excludes exam fees does not reimburse eighty percent of the bill you actually paid. On a long recovery with repeated rechecks, that gap grows every visit.

Where one national number breaks

Three conflicts are worth showing rather than resolving with a guess.

Subject What one current source says What the other source says Status
Companion Protect program state variation The CSAA disclosures state a 30-day non-accident orthopedic wait in California, Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania The Delaware disclosure does not state an orthopedic wait at all Resolved only at the document level. A single program-wide number would erase the state split
Lemonade cruciate timing Current official waiting-period and FAQ pages state 30 days for orthopedic conditions, including cruciate signs during that period A separate ACL article updated June 8, 2026 uses an example in which a cruciate injury occurs more than six months after purchase Unresolved. We will not publish a Lemonade cruciate number until we read the current state form
Embrace California orthopedic wait The posted California disclosure with form marker 2016.C.CA.1 states six months for dogs Cal. Ins. Code §12880.7 caps non-accident orthopedic waits at 30 days Open question. Ask which form and endorsements govern a policy issued today

A useful tiebreaker whenever two numbers disagree: ask which one is quoting the current policy document, endorsement or statute for your state. That is the whole reason this register exists.

If your pet already limps, or already has a diagnosis

A new policy generally will not pay for care tied to a problem that already exists or has already produced signs. Definitions differ by policy and state, and some policies publish narrow exceptions for conditions treated as curable, but no new policy erases history. Buying one is not a way to fund the estimate in your hand.

What actually helps, in this order:

Keep the veterinary care on track. Your veterinarian sets the clinical timeline. A waiting period does not.

Read the policy you already have. The provision that decides your claim is in that document, not on a comparison page. Pull the declarations page, the base policy, any state endorsement, the benefit schedule, and the renewal notice.

Get the insurer's position in writing. A usable request: Please state in writing whether this expense is eligible, and identify the policy form, provision, exclusion and endorsement you relied on, along with the facts used in the decision, and the applicable appeal or review process. NAIC Model #633 §5.A places the burden of proving a pre-existing exclusion on the insurer; your state's enacted text controls. That is why a written provision citation matters.

Get an itemized estimate. Ask the clinic to break out the exam, diagnostics, imaging, the procedure, anesthesia, monitoring, medication, follow-up and rehabilitation, and what happens if there is a complication. A single bottom-line number is hard to check and harder to appeal.

Know who actually issued the policy. The brand and the legal insurer are not always the same company, and the model act requires that difference to be disclosed. See which company issues the policy behind each pet-insurance brand.

Clinic payment arrangements, veterinary financing products and charitable assistance may be available depending on the clinic, the provider and eligibility rules. Ask directly and read the terms. We receive nothing from any of them and do not route you to any of them.

Your next step in this lane is not a quote. Get the itemized estimate in writing and ask your current insurer which provision applies. Nothing you buy today changes what happened yesterday.

Ask for it in writing

A chat reply is easy to lose. Copy the request below, add your state, ask for a written answer tied to the form, and keep the reply with your policy documents.

I am evaluating pet insurance and need written answers before I enroll.

  1. What is the orthopedic waiting period or exclusion period on the policy you would issue to me in [state] today, and is it a waiting period or an exclusion period?
  2. Which document states it? Please give me the form number and edition date, and a link to the Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions for my state.
  3. Is there an examination-based waiver, what is the submission deadline, who pays for the exam, and what happens if the veterinarian documents an abnormality?
  4. If one knee, hip, elbow or eye is affected while I am covered, how does the policy treat the same condition on the other side?
  5. Which legal insurer would issue my policy?

If a carrier will not give you the state-specific form and disclosure before you buy, you do not yet have enough information to compare.

What we actually verified

Read directly on August 24, 2026:

  • NAIC Pet Insurance Model Act, Model #633, full text, Summer 2022 edition.
  • NAIC Model #633 state activity page, Summer 2025 edition, used as a discovery starting point rather than the final legal authority.
  • The current controlling waiting-period section for California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
  • New Jersey P.L. 2025, c.224, enacted January 12, 2026 and scheduled to take effect January 1, 2027.
  • Embrace's posted Insurer Disclosure of Important Policy Provisions for California, form marker 2016.C.CA.1, linked from Embrace's own site footer as its Notice to California Residents.
  • The combined CSAA General Insurance Company / Companion Protect disclosure covering California, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania — forms CSAAPHI001DCA 1224, CSAAPHI001DDE 1023, CSAAPHI001MMD 092024, CSAAPHI001DOH 1224, CSAAPHID001PA 0924.
  • Embrace's state-specific orthopedic page and current official waiting-period help page.
  • Lemonade's current official waiting-period guide, pet-insurance FAQ and ACL-surgery article, solely to identify the unresolved 30-day versus six-month wording conflict.
  • The live Pet Treatment Index insurance hub, dog-insurance page, underwriter register, editorial standards, disclosure, corrections page and insurance-coverage methodology.

Computed or determined by us: the count of sixteen states with an effective model-style waiting-period rule on August 24, 2026; New Jersey's future January 1, 2027 trigger; the within-program state split in the five CSAA disclosures, including the Delaware document's silence on orthopedic waits and Maryland's shorter free-look period; and the gap between the posted Embrace California document and current California law.

What we did not do: we did not buy a policy, request a quote, file a claim, contact a carrier, or handle any animal. We did not obtain the policy and endorsements that would be issued to a new Embrace customer in California. We have not collected every value behind Embrace's state selector. We have not read a controlling policy form for any program in the held-out document queue.

What we deliberately did not publish: a cruciate waiting period for Lemonade, because current official pages conflict and we have not read the state form; unverified numbers from the held-out document queue; and any allegation that the posted Embrace California disclosure governs a policy issued today or violates current law.

What cannot be known from here: what your policy says, or how a particular claim will be decided. Only your declarations page, policy form, endorsements, complete medical record, current state law and the insurer's claim review can answer that.

Compensation: none. No company paid for inclusion, placement or wording, and there are no compensated links on this page. See our affiliate and sponsorship disclosure and editorial standards.

Corrections: if a current form contradicts a cell, tell us — include the brand, state, form number, edition date and the disputed field. Please do not send medical records, claim files, account numbers or payment information through a general correction form.

Questions owners ask

Is there a national orthopedic waiting period? No. The number is set by your state and by the form your carrier issues there. As of August 24, 2026, sixteen states have an effective model-style rule that caps non-accident illness or orthopedic waits at 30 days; elsewhere, current state law and the issued form control.

Which states cap it? The sixteen listed in Table 4. Cite your state's current section rather than the count — the count changes, and the section is what the policy must comply with.

Does calling it an accident get around the orthopedic wait? Not automatically. The model caps waits for orthopedic conditions not resulting from an accident, so how your policy classifies the event decides which clock applies. Sudden signs do not settle it — the ACVS describes canine cruciate disease as usually degenerative rather than a sudden injury to a healthy ligament. Read your form's definitions.

Can a limp count as pre-existing if nobody ever diagnosed it? It can. The model definition treats a condition as pre-existing if a veterinarian gave advice, the pet received treatment, or verifiable sources show signs or symptoms directly related to it — before the effective date or during any waiting period. No diagnosis is required. Your state's definition, your policy and the claim facts control.

Can the wait be waived? In the sixteen current state provisions listed in Table 4, a policy using a permitted waiting period must contain an examination-based waiver provision. Carrier procedures and submission windows can differ, and the exam may document an exclusion as well as shorten the wait.

Does the clock restart when I renew? In the sixteen states listed in Table 4, the model-style rule does not allow waiting periods on renewal of existing coverage, and a condition covered on a policy cannot be treated as pre-existing on renewal. Outside those states, check current law and your renewal documents.

Does it restart if I switch companies? Assume a replacement policy starts a new contract with a new effective date, new waiting periods and a new review of your pet's records unless the issued form or current state law says otherwise. Anything that developed while the old policy was in force can matter to the new one.

Do cats get the same orthopedic terms as dogs? Not always. At least one posted carrier disclosure applies its long orthopedic provision to dogs only. Check the species scope on your own form rather than assuming.

What if my state is not on the list? We did not confirm this model-style cap for your state as of August 24, 2026. Current state law and the issued form control. Use the written request above and get the provision in writing before you enroll.

What to do next

Planning ahead. Check whether your state appears in Table 4, open your carrier's own disclosure and issued-form set for that state, and save the policy and endorsements before you enroll. Then, if you want to weigh price alongside these clauses, compare three policies on identical settings — matching coverage type, deductible amount and basis, reimbursement rate, annual limit and add-ons before you look at premium.

Enrolled recently. Find your waiver deadline today and put it on a calendar.

Considering a switch. Put both contracts side by side and answer the same questions for each before canceling anything.

Related signs, a diagnosis, or an estimate in hand. Keep care on track, get the itemized estimate, and ask your current insurer to name the controlling provision in writing. A new quote is not the answer to a problem already underway.

Found a cell we got wrong? Report an outdated policy source. Corrections improve the register faster than anything else we do.

Sources

Model and state-law sources

Carrier documents and conflict checks

Veterinary

Held-out queue source locations are recorded internally with each program and are published only when the controlling form has been read.

Related pages on The Pet Treatment Index

The Pet Treatment Index is an independent publication. It is not a veterinary practice, pharmacy, insurer, insurance producer, or government agency, and it is not affiliated with any insurer or veterinary provider. Educational information only. If you believe your pet may be experiencing an emergency, contact a veterinarian or emergency animal hospital immediately.