Pet Insurance in Louisiana: What Act 94 of 2023 Guarantees

Louisiana is a small pet insurance market by NAPHIA’s count, with premiums that run below the national average, and it’s one of the states where a policy has to meet statutory minimums. Act 94 of 2023 put the NAIC model terms into Title 22 from the first day of 2024, so the waiting period and renewal rules here come from the statute rather than from whichever insurer you pick. What the act leaves alone, the price and the exclusions list, is still the part to read.

Louisiana quotes land under the national figure

NAPHIA’s industry data for 2025 gives the national anchor: $836 a year for a dog on accident-and-illness cover, about $70 a month, and $435 a year for a cat, about $36 a month, up 11.5% and 12.6% in a year. The statistics page has the series back to 2021.

Louisiana holds 0.5% of insured US pets and 0.4% of US written premium. When the premium share falls short of the pet share, the average insured pet costs less to cover than the national figure, so per NAPHIA’s distribution data, average premiums in Louisiana run below the national average, on the same side of the line as Texas next door. NAPHIA publishes no Louisiana dollar figure, and this page won’t invent one.

Inside the state, the quote follows the ZIP code. Insurers rate by location because vet fees differ by location, and a New Orleans or Baton Rouge quote tends to sit above the same pet’s quote in a rural parish. The cost calculator takes a ZIP, and how much pet insurance costs explains which settings move the number.

Act 94 of 2023: the terms every Louisiana policy must meet

As of October 2026, Louisiana is a “model adoption” state on the NAIC’s Summer 2026 tracker. The law is Act No. 94 of the 2023 Regular Session (House Bill 579), which enacted R.S. 22:1371 through 22:1375, and section 2 of the act made it effective January 1, 2024.

What a buyer gets under R.S. 22:1373:

• A waiting period may not exceed thirty days for an illness or orthopedic condition not resulting from an accident. Waiting periods for accidents are prohibited.
• The policy must allow the waiting period to be waived on completion of a medical examination. The exam is paid for by the policyholder unless the policy provides that the insurer will pay.
• Waiting periods are not applied to renewals of existing coverage, and the insurer may not require a veterinary examination for a policyholder to have a policy renewed.
• The insurer has the burden of proving that a pre-existing condition exclusion applies to the condition in the claim.
• Under 22:1371, a condition the policy covered is not considered pre-existing on any renewal.

Section 22:1372 adds a 15-day free look: return the policy within fifteen days of receipt and the premium is refunded within thirty days, unless a claim has been filed. And 22:1375 requires producer training before pet insurance is sold.

Two cautions. The exam that waives your waiting period produces a record, and anything noted in it before coverage starts can be excluded as pre-existing; the pre-existing conditions guide explains that review. And nothing in the sections we read caps premiums or renewal increases or lists which exclusions an insurer may use, so hereditary wording, exam fees, and the annual limit are still policy choices. The waiting period guide shows what the same clauses look like in states with no cap.

Complaints about an insurer go to the Louisiana Department of Insurance at ldi.la.gov.

Baton Rouge’s round-the-clock teaching hospital

Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge is the state’s AVMA-accredited veterinary college, and the LSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with emergency and critical care around the clock. It’s where Louisiana vets refer the cases that need a board-certified surgeon, an oncologist, a neurologist, or intensive care, and where the undiagnosed cases go when the local workup runs out.

That’s the bill the annual limit has to be sized for. A referral with advanced imaging, surgery, and days in intensive care can use up a modest cap fast, and the act doesn’t touch limits; you choose the cap, and the cap decides how much of a Baton Rouge referral is yours. Does pet insurance cover hospitalization shows how a multi-day stay is reimbursed, and the reimbursement calculator shows the split at different limits.

Heartworm prevention and the Louisiana wellness add-on

The American Heartworm Society says heartworm disease has been diagnosed in all 50 states and that risk factors are impossible to predict. The policy splits heartworm in two. The monthly preventive and the annual screening test on a healthy dog are routine care, which the core policy doesn’t reimburse; a wellness add-on may pay a scheduled amount toward them, and does pet insurance cover vaccinations covers whether that add-on pays for itself. Treatment of an infection diagnosed after enrollment and after the illness wait, now capped at 30 days in Louisiana, is an illness claim on most accident-and-illness policies; does pet insurance cover heartworm treatment covers the lapsed-preventive clause some policies carry.

Where Louisiana’s statute stops and the policy begins

Act 94 fixes the waiting periods, the renewal rules, and the free look. Everything else works the way it does nationally. You pay the vet, file, and get reimbursed after the deductible at your chosen rate; reimbursement explained covers the arithmetic. Conditions on record before enrollment stay excluded as pre-existing, even though the insurer now has to prove it, so enrolling while the record is short is still the biggest lever on both coverage and price. If you’re weighing a switch at renewal, how to switch pet insurance explains what the new insurer will read as pre-existing. The statute took the waiting period off your reading list. The exclusions section is still on it.

This article is general information, not insurance or veterinary advice. Coverage, prices, and terms vary by insurer, pet, and location. Always read the policy and confirm details with the provider before buying.