These are the sources behind The Paw Bill’s rules, figures and prices, with the section or edition we used and the date we read it. Each page also cites its sources at the claim, so you can check any figure where you see it. How we check explains how rules are read and dated, and how we estimate costs explains the price method.
General information about costs, insurance and the rules, not veterinary, legal, insurance, tax or financial advice. Your vet decides what care is right for your pet; your policy’s wording and your insurer decide what a claim pays; your card or loan agreement decides what credit costs.
Pet insurance statutes
There is no federal pet insurance law. These are the state statutes we read, each on the state’s own site, on 12 November 2026 unless the row says otherwise. Our state-by-state table gives each state’s rules and its insurance department.
| State | Statute (official text) | In force since |
|---|---|---|
| California | Ins. Code 12880 to 12880.8 | 1 Jan 2015; rewritten from 1 Jan 2025 |
| Delaware | 18 Del. C. 8801 to 8809 | 31 Aug 2023 |
| Florida | Fla. Stat. 627.71545 | 1 Jan 2026 |
| Hawaii | HRS 431:33-101 to -109 | 1 Jan 2026 |
| Louisiana | La. R.S. 22:1371 to 22:1375 | 1 Jan 2024 |
| Maine | 24-A M.R.S. 3151 to 3161 | 1 Jan 2023 |
| Maryland | Md. Code, Insurance 19-1101 to 19-1107 | 1 Jan 2025 |
| Montana | MCA 33-24-401 to 33-24-409 | 1 Oct 2025 (our reading of the state’s default date for a 2025 act) |
| Nebraska | Neb. Rev. Stat. 44-6501 to 44-6510 | 1 Jan 2024 |
| New Hampshire | RSA 402-P:1 to 402-P:6; read only in an Internet Archive copy of the official text dated 17 Dec 2025 | 1 Jan 2024 |
| Ohio | R.C. 3970.01 to 3970.08 | 22 Jan 2025 |
| Pennsylvania | 40 Pa.C.S. 4701 to 4711 (Act 19 of 2024) | 7 Dec 2024 (our count of the act’s 180 days) |
| Rhode Island | R.I. Gen. Laws 27-83-1 to 27-83-7 | 1 Jan 2026 |
| Vermont | 8 V.S.A. 7151 to 7159 | 1 July 2025 |
| Washington | RCW 48.205.010 to 48.205.080 | 1 Jan 2024 |
| Mississippi | Senate Bill 2228 (2023), the bill as passed; the code text was not read | 1 July 2023; a disclosure law only |
| New Jersey | P.L.2025, c.224 | not yet: starts 1 Jan 2027 |
- New York: no pet insurance law in force. The record of Assembly Bill A11164, read 12 November 2026, shows it passed both houses and had not been delivered to the governor.
- Illinois: no pet insurance law. The General Assembly’s record of House Bill 3595, read 11 November 2026.
- Tennessee: Tenn. Code 56-7-2101 to 56-7-2103, an older disclosure rule, read only in a 2020 release of the code. Marked “not confirmed” on our pages.
- NAIC Pet Insurance Model Act (#633, 2022): the model text, paraphrased by section because it is copyrighted, and NAIC’s state adoption chart (Summer 2026), used as a cross-check only. The rows for states with no pet insurance statute rest on that chart, not on a search of each state’s code.
- State insurance departments: each state’s row links the department’s own complaint page where we read it, and NAIC’s directory of state insurance departments where we did not.
Prescriptions, records, estimates, liens and abandoned animals
Read on 12 November 2026 on each state’s own site unless stated. We read these points in ten states. A point we did not read in a state is marked “not read” on the page, and the other 40 states and DC are not covered.
| State | Sections read | What we use them for |
|---|---|---|
| California | Bus. & Prof. Code 4170, 4855, 4855.1, 4826.6; Civ. Code 3051, 3052, 1834.5; the Veterinary Medical Board’s lien fact sheet (undated) | Prescriptions, records, telehealth, the vet’s lien, abandoned animals |
| Florida | Fla. Stat. chapter 474 (474.214, 474.2165, 474.2021); ch. 2026-77 (474.224, in force 1 July 2026); 713.655, 713.65, 705.19 | Prescriptions, records, liens, abandoned animals |
| Georgia | Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 700-8-.01 | Prescriptions and records. Lien law not confirmed |
| Illinois | 225 ILCS 115 (Veterinary Medicine and Surgery Practice Act), sections 18, 19.2 and 25.17 | Prescriptions, records, abandoned animals. Lien law not read |
| Michigan | MCL 333.18838 | Abandoned animals. Other points not read |
| New York | Educ. Law 6714; Lien Law 183, 201, 201-a and 202; Agric. & Mkts. Law 331 and 332; the State Education Department’s practice guideline 5.12 (guidance, not a rule) | Records, liens, abandoned animals, prescriptions |
| North Carolina | G.S. 44A-2, 44A-3, 44A-4; 90-187.7; 21 NCAC 66 .0211 | Liens, abandoned animals, telehealth |
| Ohio | R.C. 4741.30, 4741.041, 1311.48; Ohio Adm. Code 4741-1-21 | Abandoned animals, telehealth prescriptions, the boarding lien, records |
| Pennsylvania | 49 Pa. Code 31.22 | Records. Lien and abandonment law not read |
| Texas | Occ. Code chapter 801 (801.351, 801.357, 801.3581); 22 Tex. Admin. Code 573.83 and 573.52; Prop. Code 70.010 | The emergency-care price rule, records, abandoned animals, the large-animal lien |
Rabies
- NASPHV, Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control, 2016: the compendium, which the association’s compendia page still listed as current on 12 November 2026, with a note that it is being revised. A national recommendation, not law.
- State rabies statutes, read 12 November 2026: California Health & Safety Code 121690; Florida Stat. 828.30; Illinois 510 ILCS 5/8; Michigan MCL 287.266; New York Public Health Law 2141; North Carolina G.S. 130A-185; Ohio R.C. 955.26; Pennsylvania Act 181 of 1986, section 8; Texas Health & Safety Code chapter 826. Georgia’s is not confirmed, and other states are not covered.
- CDC and USDA APHIS: the CDC’s rabies pages and APHIS’s pet travel and fee pages, cited with the date on any page that uses them.
Credit rules and lenders’ terms
Regulation Z was read in the eCFR on 12 November 2026, when Title 12 was shown as up to date as of 9 November 2026.
| Source | What we use it for |
|---|---|
| 12 CFR 1026.2(a)(17) | Who counts as a creditor: credit with a finance charge, or payable by written agreement in more than four installments |
| 12 CFR 1026.16(h) and its official comment 16(h)-1 | What a “no interest if paid in full” advertisement must say; deferred interest against a true 0% rate |
| 12 CFR 1026.7(b)(14) | The pay-in-full date printed on each statement during a deferred-interest period |
| 12 CFR 1026.53 | Where a payment above the minimum goes, including in the last two billing cycles of a promotion |
| 12 CFR 1026.55(b)(1) | Promotional rates of six months or longer |
| 12 CFR 1026.17 and 1026.18 | What a fixed loan’s disclosures must show |
| CFPB, Medical Credit Cards and Financing Plans, May 2023 | How deferred interest works. Its figures are about human healthcare, and pages say so |
| CFPB, press release on its order against GE CareCredit, 10 December 2013 | A dated record, not a verdict on today’s company. The order itself is a scanned document we could not read as text |
| 90 FR 20084, 12 May 2025 | The CFPB’s withdrawal of guidance documents, including its 2024 rule on pay-in-four loans. Regulation Z itself did not change |
Two lenders are named on our pages because readers search for them. Each is described only from its own published terms, never ranked, and never linked to an application.
- CareCredit, a medical credit card issued by Synchrony Bank: its page on promotional financing and its cardholder agreement page (account agreement revised March 2026), read 12 November 2026.
- Scratchpay, a lender whose US plans are issued by WebBank: its legal pages (terms of use last updated 4 February 2026) and its prepayment promotion terms, read 12 November 2026. Its rate range and fees were not read, so no page states them.
National prices, spending, wages and industry data
- BLS consumer price index, veterinarian services, series CUUR0000SS62054 (CPI-U, US city average, not seasonally adjusted, December 1997 = 100), beside all items, series CUUR0000SA0. Latest month read on 12 November 2026: October 2026. Pages quote September 2026 where they give a one-year change, because BLS did not collect October 2025 data.
- BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2025: average yearly spending on veterinary services and on pets per household, from the survey’s detailed table for all households (file dated October 2026), read 11 November 2026. The next year’s figures come in autumn 2027.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: national mean and median wages for veterinarians (occupation 29-1131) and veterinary technologists and technicians (29-2056), read 12 November 2026. Used only for a labour line, with the hours labelled as our assumption.
- NAPHIA, State of the Industry 2026: the report highlights (June 2026), read 11 November 2026, for average premiums and the number of insured pets. NAPHIA is the pet insurers’ trade association, so every figure is labelled “industry data (NAPHIA, 2026 report, 2025 figures)”. Its material is copyrighted and paraphrased.
- Federal Trade Commission: its notices on Mars and VCA (2017) and JAB and SAGE Veterinary (2022) in the Federal Register, and its 2015 report on pet medications. Dated background only; we draw no conclusion from them about why prices rise.
- IRS Publication 502 and Publication 526: the 2025 editions, the current ones on 12 November 2026, for the few tax points that touch pets. Named by edition wherever a page uses them.
- AVMA: a professional body’s policy, not law. Its site could not be read directly, so any AVMA line cites a dated Internet Archive copy, such as its Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics as archived on 13 October 2026.
Teaching hospitals’ fee and policy pages
Each is what one university hospital posted, read on 12 November 2026 unless the page using it says otherwise. Most of these pages carry no date.
- Colorado State University: the emergency and critical care page (emergency visit fee) and the dentistry page.
- University of Tennessee: the after-hours emergency sheet, the cataract pre-referral sheet (updated 5 June 2026) and the client payment policy.
- Ohio State University: the 2026 emergency “what to expect” sheet (deposits), the 2025 cataract surgery sheet and the client credit policy.
- NC State: the veterinary hospital’s emergency page (examination and stabilization fees).
- University of Missouri: the TPLO owner handout (August 2023), the cataract handout (April 2025), the surgery service’s questions page and the client billing page.
- University of Minnesota: the small animal surgery page and its estimate sheet, and the Companion Animal Teaching Clinic page.
- University of Illinois: the teaching hospital’s emergency estimates of September 2025, printed in its board minutes.
- Purdue University: the client services agreement (payment terms), read 11 November 2026.
- Cornell University: the hydrocremation service’s rates page.
Sample policies used as examples
We show how real policies handle the deductible, the reimbursement percentage, limits, waiting periods, pre-existing conditions, the free look and claims from six public documents, read on 12 November 2026. Each insurer is named only as the publisher of its document. They are examples of terms, not a description of every policy, and nothing here compares or ranks the insurers.
- MetLife Pet, sample accident and illness policy, form PET21-01-V (Ohio), Metropolitan General Insurance Company; file last changed February 2024.
- Healthy Paws, sample pet health insurance policy, form LD-50812 (07/18), a general form, Westchester Fire Insurance Company; file last changed December 2025.
- Pets Best, accident and illness booklet for Maine, policy form APIC-PBI0001-ILL with insurer disclosure APIC-PBI0012-ME (11/2022), American Pet Insurance Company; file last changed 10 September 2026.
- Pets Best, accident and illness booklet for Florida, form APIC-PBI0001-ILL with the Florida insurer disclosure, American Pet Insurance Company; file last changed 10 September 2026.
- Pets Best, accident-only policy for Oklahoma, form IAIC-PB10001-ACC, Independence American Insurance Company; file last changed 11 September 2026.
- Physicians Mutual, sample pet insurance policy, form P970 (0821), Physicians Mutual Insurance Company; file last changed June 2022.
Some of these are older forms, and a sample is not the policy an insurer would issue to you today in your state. We did not read any insurer’s benefit schedule, so no page quotes one.
What a procedure is
One or two plain sentences only, from pages written for owners: the American College of Veterinary Surgeons on cranial cruciate ligament disease, canine hip dysplasia, pyometra and gastrointestinal foreign bodies, and teaching hospitals’ owner pages, such as the University of Missouri’s on total hip replacement and the Cornell Feline Health Center’s on euthanasia. Read 12 November 2026. Where we found no such page for a procedure, the page describes it in plain words and makes no clinical claim.
Published price sources
No public, primary list of vet prices exists, so cost pages show figures from several publishers side by side, never averaged. We look for at least three per procedure; where we find fewer, the page says so. Each publisher is named on the page that uses it, with its date and what its figure includes. This is who they are, by kind, and why each kind might lean. Figures were read on 12 November 2026 unless the page says otherwise.
| Kind of publisher | Who we read | What their figures are | Why they might lean |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching hospitals | The university hospitals listed above, and Iowa State and LSU on single pages | Posted fees, estimate sheets and owner handouts | One hospital each; often referral cases; some sheets are a few years old |
| Nonprofit clinics and humane societies | Animal Humane Society (Minnesota), Idaho Humane Society, Lehigh Valley Humane Society (Pennsylvania), Homeward Bound Pets (Oregon), Humane Society of Tampa Bay, Humane Society of South Carolina, Humane Society of Manatee County (Florida), Houston Humane Society, Butte Humane Society (California), Texas Humane Heroes, Anicira Veterinary Center, True Companions (Colorado), Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation (New York), Suncoast Humane Society (Florida), the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County, Humane Society of Greater Miami, and others named on single pages | Posted fee lists, each for one clinic or one group of clinics | Often subsidized; some prices need an income test; some services are only for otherwise healthy animals |
| City and county clinics and shelters | Seattle Animal Shelter, and county animal services such as Anne Arundel County (Maryland), Loudoun County and Fairfax County (Virginia) | Posted fees set by a local government | Often for residents only; some need an income test |
| Private clinics that post a price | Bernardo Heights Veterinary Hospital (California), Surgery Vet (Florida), CVETS (South Carolina), Zoomies Veterinary Surgery & Dental (Ohio), Helping Hands Veterinary Surgery & Dentistry (Virginia), Abel Veterinary Hospital (California) | One clinic’s posted fee, sometimes itemized | One clinic in one place; a clinic that advertises a price may be competing on price; add-on fees may apply |
| Insurers’ published figures | Lemonade’s cost pages; MetLife Pet’s published claim examples | Ranges with no stated source, or single claims from the insurer’s own data | They sell cover against high bills. Always named as an insurer’s figure, never alone |
| A lender’s survey | CareCredit’s veterinary cost page | National and state averages from the 2025-2026 Synchrony Average Procedural Cost Study for veterinary practices, carried out by ASQ360° Market Research | CareCredit finances vet bills, and the survey’s method is not published. Always named as a lender’s figure, never alone |
| Businesses that sell the service | In-home euthanasia practices and networks, and pet cremation companies, each named on the end-of-life page that uses it | Their own posted prices | They sell the service. The page says so above the table, and no “typical” figure is drawn from them |
Naming a clinic, an insurer, a lender or a company here or on a cost page is not a recommendation. They are named only as the publishers of figures and terms, and we never link to a quote, application or booking page.
What we don’t use
- Insurance comparison, marketplace and quote sites, and lists that rank insurers or lenders: never a source for a rule, a figure or a price.
- Lead-generation, loan-referral, find-a-vet and affiliate sites, and “vet cost” content sites: their figures can’t be traced, and they earn from referrals.
- Pet media, vet clinics’ blogs and marketing pages, forums, social media and video sites: never a source. A clinic’s own posted fee list is a source for that clinic’s fee only.
- An insurer’s or lender’s figure that cites one of the above: not used.
- Pages we couldn’t open or attribute: a figure seen only in a search result, or on a page that does not say whose prices it lists, is not published.
If you publish a source we cite and something here is out of date, or you know a primary source we should read, please tell us.
Sources on this page checked on 12 November 2026.