Nationwide Pet Insurance California Review

From Pet Insurance Wiki · last updated 14 Oct 2026 from public rate filings

Part of the Nationwide review · Pet insurance in California

Nationwide inCACaliforniaChange state
Your dogFrench Bulldog · puppy, under 115 years of cover

Prices and ratings on this page are for the French Bulldog, enrolled as a puppy. Turn on JavaScript to choose your dog's breed and age.

This page is a draft: we have not read Nationwide's California rate pages yet, so it has no price and only partial scores. Figures may be corrected; see the history.

Nationwide is administered by DVM Insurance Agency and underwritten in California by Veterinary Pet Insurance Company. The last approved increase was +26.6%, against +27.8% requested, effective 28 Aug 2025.[1]

Coverage

Filing 24-2007 (approved 7 April 2025, effective 28 August 2025; the CDI disposition shows 26 August, which the company corrected as a clerical error and the CDI acknowledged on 8 April 2025) covers My Pet Protection Plus, sold through employers as a voluntary benefit. Nationwide told the regulator it plans to move its VBW-I and VB-II employer policies, which pay at most $7,500 a year, into the new plan. Medical cover is modular: accident is mandatory; illness, congenital and hereditary, and cruciate are options with limits of $2,500 to $5,000 each per year; reimbursement is 50% to 80%. The company told the regulator there is no waiting period for accidents, illnesses or orthopedic conditions, but cruciate cover cannot be bought at enrollment and can be added at a renewal no earlier than 12 months after the policy starts, and cruciate signs in the first term are excluded; spay, neuter and wellness dental cleaning are not covered in the first 90 days. Waiting periods and coverage flags are left blank: the cruciate rule does not fit the fields, and the filing does not state whether exam fees are paid or whether vets can be paid directly. Other Nationwide plans filed in California, such as Modular Pet Insurance (CDI filing 20-4655), were not reviewed.

Scores in California

Without rate pages there is no lifetime cost, so Nationwide is not ranked in California. Scales with data:

A. Lifetime costno data
B. Age curveno data
C. Generosity (loss ratio)10.0
D. Rate increases2.0
E. Price structure8.0
F. Customer treatmentno data
Coverage (separate)no data

Why these scores

A. Lifetime cost no data
No lifetime price: filing 24-2007 prices each My Pet Protection Plus coverage separately and multiplies three of them by a factor set at each renewal from paid claims, which the price engine cannot express. Its limits of $2,500 to $5,000 a year per coverage would not be comparable with the unlimited plans priced for other brands anyway.
B. Age curve no data
No age curve: the price engine cannot compute My Pet Protection Plus prices from filing 24-2007 (see A).
E. Price structure 8.0
Filing 24-2007 has no tenure factor. Its utilization factor (Table 9) gives 0.863 at renewal only to pets with no paid medical claims in the prior 12 months and raises the rate to as much as 4.483 after more than $3,500 paid. VBW-I and VB-II underwriting guidelines also raise coinsurance to 50% for policies with $8,000 of paid medical claims within three terms. My Pet Protection Plus charges $3.25 per monthly installment, which under the methodology costs one point; the score cannot apply it yet because the fee is read only from priced rate pages, and none are priced for this filing.
F. Customer treatment no data
No regulator penalty or California-specific mass non-renewal was found in the sources; Nationwide's 2024 national non-renewal of about 100,000 pet policies did not name the states affected. The CDI WARFF register lists 2024 withdrawal filings for Nationwide's California Major Medical (24-1178) and POI Plan A (24-1265) plans; whether existing policyholders were non-renewed is not documented.

How each scale is computed: methodology.[2]

Price by age

Rate pages for Nationwide in California are not public or not yet read, so there is no price by age.

Compared with other brands in California

Monthly premium for the French Bulldog in California at filed rates, before any future increases. Drag the slider to see what you pay at each birthday.

Monthly premium by age for 8 brands in California; every number is in the table below the chart.$0$250$500$750$1,000$1,25002468101214

Filed rates: ASPCA, Pumpkin, Spot 25-613 · Embrace 26-812 · Fetch 25-2417 · Lemonade 23-3248 · MetLife 25-2234 · Trupanion 25-2461. Dashed: proposed, filed but not yet approved (Embrace, effective 1 Feb 2027). No rate pages read yet: Figo, Healthy Paws, Nationwide.

All numbers: monthly premium by age, French Bulldog, none (filed rates)
AgeASPCAEmbraceFetchLemonadeMetLifePumpkinSpotTrupanion
0$122$195$126$86$273$122$122$196
1$122$137$128$77$248$122$122$196
2$122$158$145$75$248$122$122$196
3$122$181$164$75$248$122$122$196
4$127$209$196$85$251$127$127$196
5$157$240$233$102$315$157$157$196
6$181$276$277$120$379$181$181$196
7$213$317$327$148$472$213$213$196
8$268$364$386$179$584$268$268$196
9$305$418$455$217$667$305$305$196
10$364$482$535$258$774$364$364$196
11$417$554$627$306$897$417$417$196
12$481$637$734$330$1,039$481$481$196
13$481$732$857$330$1,091$481$481$196
14$529$842$998$330$1,143$529$529$196

Rate filings

Nationwide's own figures where one filing sets different increases for different brands; the California page lists each filing's headline figures.

FilingEffectiveStatusRequestedApprovedIndicatedLoss ratioPermissible LRSource
24-200728 Aug 2025approved+27.8%+26.6%+41.5%93% actual (2023)62%source [1]
Notes on these filings (1)
  1. 24-2007: Transferred-program filing (SERFF VPIC-134252410), approved 7 April 2025. It moves Nationwide's employer-sold (voluntary benefit) plans VBW-I and VB-II, 139,178 California policyholders and $113.3 million of written premium, into the new My Pet Protection Plus plan. Overall rate impact +26.6%: the company first asked for +27.8% and lowered it on 27 March 2025 when it corrected its base rates. The indicated change, which is also the CDI maximum permitted, is +41.5%; individual policies change by -91% to +1,482%. CDI ratemaking data for calendar year 2023 (VBW-I and VB-II in California): losses $81.93 million on earned premium $88.34 million, 92.7% (no DCCE, undeveloped); developed and trended to current rates, 104.7%. Permissible loss ratio 62.0% (Supporting Exhibit 11: expenses 33.04%, profit 4.96%). The CDI disposition shows an effective date of 26 August 2025; on 8 April 2025 the CDI acknowledged the company's correction to 28 August 2025. No price curve or lifetime price is shown for Nationwide in California, and the brand is left out of the California price comparison. This filing replaces the VBW-I and VB-II rate manual (on file under SERFF VPIC-134018018) with the My Pet Protection Plus manual (filing pp. 72, 142-153). My Pet Protection Plus prices accident, illness, congenital and hereditary, cruciate and wellness cover separately, each with its own base rate and factors, and multiplies the illness, congenital and hereditary, and cruciate parts by a factor set at each renewal from the pet's paid claims; the price engine here cannot express that. Its limits are $2,500 to $5,000 a year per coverage, so a lifetime price would not be comparable with unlimited plans anyway. For reference, the replaced VBW-I manual is attached to the filing (edition June 2024, pp. 73-91 and 141; Exhibit 2 on p. 399 lists the last VBW-I rate change as CDI 24-531, +25.0% from 11 July 2024). VBW-I annual premium = base $1,894.35 × age × breed × deductible × co-insurance × routine care × territory, with a $7,500 annual limit and no lifetime limit. Its factors for the reference profile: French Bulldog 1.107; $1,000 deductible 0.480; 90% co-insurance 1.000; ZIP 90001 is territory 2, 1.250; age under 1 year 1.693, 2 years 0.913, 12 years 2.037, 14 years and older 2.145; routine care with no limit 1.000, $500 0.954, $300 0.919, $100 0.856. VBW-I charges $2.00 per installment for any payment option other than annual, none under payroll deduction, and gives 5% off to policies enrolled through participating employers. A later VBW-I rate filing, CDI 24-2032, was not reviewed.

References

  1. 1.↑California Department of Insurance, WARFF. Veterinary Pet Insurance Company, My Pet Protection Plus, rate filing 24-2007. Effective 28 Aug 2025. Requested +27.8%, approved +26.6%, indicated +41.5%. source
  2. 2.↑Pet Insurance Wiki, Rating methodology, version 1. methodology

History

  1. Corrected the Florida filing dates: 26-013923 was approved on 1 September 2026 with an effective date of 11 June 2026; 25-056884 takes effect on 14 August 2026 for new policies and 22 October 2026 for renewals. Clarified that 8 April 2025 is the date the CDI acknowledged the corrected effective date of 24-2007, and that the behavioral and prescription food limits are chosen from $40, $60, $80 or $100.
  2. Added BBB and Trustpilot ratings checked on 13 October 2026
  3. Corrected the effective date of California filing 24-2007 to 28 August 2025. Limited the 'How it works' section to the plans actually read. Corrected the cruciate, excluded-condition review and behavioral/prescription food terms. Added the renewal underwriting terms and the unread filings 24-2032 (California) and 25-056884 (Florida).
  4. Draft page from California filing 24-2007 and the Florida filing register