Pets Best closed its old program in 2023. The customers stuck in it are getting huge increases

What's happening?

Since 2023, Pets Best has been opening new pet insurance programs. Usually, when this is done, the existing customers are allowed to move to the new program. Instead, Pets Best has been keeping them in the old program and closing it to new customers. These loyal customers are seeing large massive rate increases compared to newer enrollees.

Based on filed rate increases, customers in the closed book have seen rates rise by an average of 96%. The table below compares the rate increases in the closed program to those in the open program.

These are averages across each book and do not include the increase every pet gets for being a year older. For most customers, their actual increases will have been about 15% larger. The book is also shrinking: about a third of it has left since 2023 in the largest of these states.

In Utah, Mississippi, Georgia, West Virginia, Colorado, Iowa and Kentucky, the open program's premium formula also carries a trend factor that raises every premium 10% a year on its own, with no rate filing. The table counts it through October 2026. The closed program has no such factor; it rises only when American Pet files an increase. Counted this way, the open program in Mississippi, West Virginia and Oklahoma has risen more than the closed one.

Based on our data, the American Pet program is closed in at least 42 states and DC. Washington is the only state where we've seen signs it's still open.

We don't hold the filings that launched the open program in Michigan, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon and New Jersey, so those states aren't in the table. The closed program's filed increases since the open program went on sale in August 2023 (IAIC-134378971) compound to +113% in Michigan, +134% in Massachusetts, +141% in Minnesota, +207% in Oregon and +49% in New Jersey.

It gets worse: a new company and increases averaging 50% more

Outside California, in April 2026 Pets Best began filing to move the closed program from American Pet to Independence Pet Insurance Company, a sister of the insurer that writes Pets Best 2.0. Each policyholder moves at their first renewal after the effective date. The filings say waiting periods and pre-existing condition clauses will not reset, and that the book "will remain a separate closed book." The move comes with new rates: North Carolina's filing (IAIC-134890503) asks for +50.0% on medical coverage, with a cap on any one renewal of +75% and a floor of zero, so nobody's premium goes down.

Nine of the sixteen have been accepted by state regulators and seven are pending. The table shows the step from the rates in force today, which in Virginia, Connecticut and Utah is smaller than the number on the filing, because American Pet has raised rates since.

How do I know if I'm in the closed book and what do I do?

The easiest way is to get a new quote from Pets Best. If the quote is significantly lower than your current premium, it is likely that you are in the closed book. If there's only a 5% or so difference, it's likely due to a new customer discount. You could also contact Pets Best directly and ask if your policy is part of the closed book. They should be able to confirm your status and explain any upcoming rate changes. Even if your book is currently open, if you are a Pets Best customer underwritten by American Pet Insurance Company, there is a good chance you'll end up in the closed book eventually.

There is not much a closed-book customer can do about this. A new policy, from Pets Best or anyone else, treats whatever the pet has already been seen for as pre-existing, which is why you can't shop your way out of a pet insurance rate hike. Rate alerts will warning you about upcoming rate changes.

Updated October 21, 2026: the state table grew from 11 states to 19 with filings we have since collected, the open program's figures now count the 10% a year trend built into its rates in seven states, which the original left out, and South Dakota joined the list of states moving the closed book to a new insurer. The averages changed with it: the closed program's from 102% to 96%, the open program's from 49% to 63%.