Illinois bill will end insurance companies discriminating against dog breed

Insurance companies need to stop profiling based on appearances. Most companies routinely deny coverage or charge more for homeowners or renters’ insurance if you identify your dog as a pit bull, or any number of other breeds. It doesn’t matter that there never has been actuarial data to support this position. However, there are lots of published studies (not to mention common sense) to support the fact that all dogs are individuals. Also, it’s a fact that nearly all dogs identified as pit bulls are merely mixed breed dogs.

It doesn’t matter to these insurance carriers that the individual dog in question might even be a certified therapy dog or has passed the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen test.

Insurance is regulated state by state. I recall a few years ago a woman with an Akita in Kentucky was told she couldn’t be insured by one insurance carrier, though her dog had zero history of aggression. However, if she moved one state over to Tennessee that same insurance company wouldn’t have any issue providing coverage with an Akita in the home. Of course, dog breed dispositions don’t vary on the state they happen to live in.

If you agree and live in Illinois, please tell your state Senator to support HB 1049.

This bill is based on the model dog breed underwriting protection Act passed by the National Council of Insurance Legislators last November.  At the NCOIL meeting the American Property and Casualty Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies testified in favor of the model.

If enacted, insurance companies will no longer be permitted to arbitrarily deny, cancel, fail to renew, or charge an increased premium for homeowners or renters insurance based on the breed or appearance of any dog. This bill is long overdue.

During the pandemic a record number of Americans adopted dogs. Today, 53 percent of households own at least one dog. Foster and adoption programs are thriving, saving animal lives (and money since there’s a cost to euthanasia which tax dollars support for municipal shelters). When people bring a dog into their home – perhaps saving a life by doing so – no one thinks to check an insurance carrier for approval of breed. Also, if the family moves suddenly that same dog who lived perhaps for years uneventfully may no longer be approved in another state.

So, while people are saving dogs, it’s turns out (that for various reasons) housing is currently the most significant explanation for pets landing in shelters. The choice often comes down to giving up the dog or going without insurance (which doesn’t benefit insurance carriers).

Of course, if a dog is problematic from Pomeranian to pit bull to Pug, that’s another story. But then the insurance is right making a decision based on the individual dog.

Arizona, Michigan, New York, Nevada and Pennsylvania have all passed similar laws, and without any known increase in dog bites or claims.

(I will be speaking with sponsor Senator Linda Holmes 42^nd District, Sunday April 23 about this bill and also a pet store ban on sales of dogs/cats in Illinois on Sunday, 1:35 p.m. CT on WGN Radio, 720 AM or wgnradio.com.)