Pet Insurance · Coverage

Does Pet Insurance Cover Hip Dysplasia?

Q: Does pet insurance cover hip dysplasia?

Nearly every major accident and illness plan covers hip dysplasia, because they cover hereditary and congenital conditions as long as the condition is not pre-existing. The real difference between insurers is not whether they cover it but how long you wait before a hip claim can pay. That waiting period ranges from 14 days to 12 months depending on the insurer and your state, so the plan you pick and the timing of enrollment matter more than the coverage question itself.

Q: What is the waiting period for hip dysplasia?

It varies enormously. Several insurers apply only their standard illness wait of about 14 days to hip dysplasia, including Pets Best, ASPCA, Pumpkin and MetLife. Others apply a long orthopedic wait: Embrace and Fetch use 180 days in most states, Figo uses 6 months for dogs, and Healthy Paws uses 12 months for hip dysplasia specifically. Many insurers will shorten the wait if your veterinarian completes an examination form soon after the policy starts, and several states require shorter waits than the insurer's default.

Q: If one hip is already affected, is the other hip covered?

It depends on the insurer's bilateral clause. At Embrace, Lemonade, ASPCA, Fetch and Odie's main policy form, a condition affecting one side makes the other side pre-existing too, so one diagnosed hip can exclude the second for life. Healthy Paws applies its bilateral exclusion only to cruciate ligaments, and Trupanion and Pumpkin write their bilateral clauses around knees rather than hips. Because this single clause can decide a large claim, it is worth asking the insurer directly before you buy.

Yes, every insurer here covers hip dysplasia under an accident and illness policy, as long as no sign of it exists before the policy starts. What differs is the wait before a hip claim can pay, from 14 days at Pets Best, ASPCA, Pumpkin, MetLife and Odie to 12 months at Healthy Paws, and four things the marketing pages rarely put together: the age limit, the pre-existing rule, whether the bilateral clause reaches hips, and whether an exam can shorten the wait. The table below carries every one of them per insurer, each from the insurer's own document with the date it was read.

Written by the GoCheckMyPet desk from the sources cited below. Not reviewed by a veterinarian. Updated September 21, 2026.

In this guide

Which insurers cover hip dysplasia, and how long you wait
The waiting period is the whole decision
The cruciate mix-up that makes most comparisons wrong
Exam waivers, and who actually offers one
Bilateral clauses: how one bad hip excludes the other
Pre-existing rules and look-back windows
Breeds most affected
If your dog is already diagnosed
Questions people ask

Which insurers cover hip dysplasia, and how long you wait

Every insurer below covers hip dysplasia under a standard accident and illness policy, provided the condition is not pre-existing. The line that decides it is the wait before a hip claim can pay, and after that the age limit, because two insurers stop covering hips at an age rather than after a wait.

Hip dysplasia, insurer by insurer, from each insurer's own pages and policy forms. Each insurer is one block, and every figure carries the date it was read: 2026-09-30 for anything re-read this morning, 2026-09-21 for a figure still standing from the quarterly review. Trupanion and Lemonade refuse an automated read, so both were read in a browser on 2026-10-01 and their rows carry that date. A period an insurer does not state reads "not stated", never a guess.
Insurer	Covered?	Wait before a hip claim	Age limit	Pre-existing rule	Bilateral rule	Exam waiver	Where it was read
Pets Best	Yes, if no sign of it exists before the policy starts or during a waiting period	14 days, the illness period. Its 6-month wait is for cruciate ligament events in the knee, not hips	From 7 weeks, no upper age limit	Anything a vet advised on, treated or recorded signs of before the start date or during a waiting period	Hip dysplasia is named in the form's definition of a bilateral condition, but the form read carries no separate rule for the second hip	Yes: a participating veterinarian can certify your pet's health before you buy	policy form IAIC-PB10001-ILL · hereditary coverage · FAQ, ages, read 2026-09-30
ASPCA	Yes, if no sign of it exists before the policy starts or during a waiting period	14 days on the current form, with no separate orthopedic wait. Ligament and knee conditions also 14 days; the older BAS forms run 30 days for illness and 12 months for ligament and knee	From 8 weeks, no upper age limit	A knee or ligament condition that occurs before the start date or during a waiting period excludes any future knee or ligament condition, with no 180-day cure reset	Active, and it reaches hips: one pre-existing hip excludes the other	Yes	notice to California residents · senior dog insurance, ages, read 2026-09-30 · sample policy read 2026-09-21
Pumpkin	Yes, if no sign of it exists before the policy starts or during the waiting period	14 days in most states, with no separate orthopedic wait	From 8 weeks, no upper age limit	Illness, congenital, hereditary or orthopedic illness showing before or during the waiting period is pre-existing and excluded; a Waiting Period Health Assessment can modify it	Its bilateral language is written around knees, patellas and soft tissue rather than hips, and two policy generations are in the market, so confirm which form your state uses	Yes, through the Waiting Period Health Assessment	FAQs · notice to Pennsylvania residents · enrollment ages, read 2026-09-30
MetLife	Yes for a dog with no history of it, but MetLife lists hip dysplasia and orthopedic conditions among conditions it considers incurable, so an earlier note in the records is permanent	14 days, the illness period. No orthopedic wait is stated in the documents read	Not stated in the documents read	Incurable conditions, hip dysplasia among them, will likely not be covered at any point	Not stated in the documents read	Not published: confirm directly	pet insurance FAQ (PDF), read 2026-09-30 · pre-existing conditions, read 2026-09-21
Odie	Yes, if no clinical sign shows before the policy starts or during a waiting period	14 days on its main Trisura form, where the 6-month wait is cruciate-knee only. The state notices read today give 30 days for orthopedic conditions that are not the result of an injury or accident	Not stated on the pages read	A condition showing clinical signs during a waiting period is pre-existing and not covered; one form classes hip dysplasia as both chronic and bilateral	Active on its main form and it reaches hips; on one form hip dysplasia is excluded entirely from age 6	No consumer waiver	notice to state residents, read 2026-09-30 · sample policy (Trisura, January 2026) read 2026-09-21
Trupanion	Yes: it covers hereditary and congenital conditions as part of its standard policy, hip dysplasia among the conditions its own page lists, provided no pre-existing sign or symptom exists before the effective date	30 days, the illness period. In its words it does not have different waiting periods for specific conditions or pet ages, so a hip claim falls under that 30 days; injuries wait five days	Enrollment any time before the pet's 14th birthday	Signs or evidence of a condition's potential manifestation within the 18 months before the effective date or an applicable waiting period	Not stated on the pages read	Not stated on the pages read	when does my coverage begin · hereditary and congenital conditions · the oldest age a pet can be enrolled · pre-existing conditions, all read October 1, 2026 in a browser, because the site refuses an automated read. Coverage effective dates may vary depending on your location
Lemonade	Yes: a basic policy will often cover the costs of a dog's hip dysplasia surgery, minus the deductible and co-insurance	30 days, its orthopedic period, which it calls notably shorter than much of the industry	From two months old. No upper enrollment age is stated on the pages read	Never covered, and a hip that had dysplasia before you signed up is pre-existing	Active, and it reaches hips: one hip with dysplasia at sign-up makes the second hip uncovered too. Insure before any sign appears and it will help with both hips	Not stated on the pages read	waiting periods (last updated June 3, 2026) · hip dysplasia surgery cost (June 8, 2026), both read October 1, 2026 in a browser, because the site refuses an automated read
Figo	Yes, if no sign of it exists before the policy starts or during a waiting period	6 months for orthopedic conditions, dogs only, and the wait applies to an accident as well, so a traumatic hip injury waits too. 30 days in Maine, Nebraska and Washington	No upper age limit	A condition identified at the waiver exam can be classed pre-existing and excluded	The term is defined but its current forms carry no operative clause, so ask directly rather than assume either way	Yes: the Orthopedic Conditions waiver in the policy's first 30 days, or a veterinary certificate that the knees are healthy	coverage · notice to Maine residents, read 2026-09-30 · Indiana sample policy read 2026-09-21
Embrace	Yes, if no sign of it exists before the policy starts or during a waiting period	Varies by state, dogs only: 180 days as the default, 30 days in California, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. A cruciate event in the first 180 days is excluded outright	Accident and illness enrollment up to age 14	Its 12-month curable reset does not rescue orthopedic conditions, so a hip noted before enrollment stays excluded	Active, and it reaches hips	Only in Kansas, New Mexico and South Carolina; elsewhere the 180-day period generally cannot be waived	waiting periods · orthopedic waiting period, read 2026-09-30 · state wordings read 2026-09-21
Fetch	Yes, if no sign of it exists before the policy starts or during the waiting period	6 months (180 days) for orthopedic conditions, on top of a wait of up to 15 days for accident and illness	From 6 weeks; no upper age limit is stated	Signs before the start date or during a waiting period make it pre-existing	Active, and it reaches hips	Knees only: its exam waiver covers orthopedic conditions of the knees, so a hip still waits the full 180 days	waiting period FAQ · dog insurance, ages, read 2026-09-30 · sample policy wording (GPTM 050) read 2026-09-21
Healthy Paws	Yes for a dog enrolled at five or younger. Enroll at six or older and hip dysplasia is not covered at all	12 months for hip dysplasia for a pet enrolled at age five or below, and 30 days in the 16 states where its accident rule applies	Maximum enrollment age varies by state, and the hip cover itself stops at six	Signs before the start date or during a waiting period make it pre-existing	The cruciate ligament is the only bilateral exclusion it states, so the clause does not reach hips	Yes, in the 16 states named in its answers, where the wait drops to 30 days with no imaging required	frequent questions, read 2026-09-30 · coverage and exclusions, read 2026-09-21

Every row above carries the date it was read. State law overrides the default in several cases, and insurers revise forms without notice, so confirm the hip clause in your own state before you buy. Where a row says a figure is not stated, that is what the insurer's own pages gave us, and we would rather say so than print a number nobody can check.

The waiting period is the whole decision

For a breed with a known hip risk, the waiting period is not a technicality. It is the product. A 180-day orthopedic exclusion on a Labrador puppy means that for the first six months, any visit where a vet writes down a hip concern can convert the condition from "waiting" to "pre-existing for life." A 14-day wait at another insurer covering the identical condition leaves almost no window for that to happen. (Sources: Embrace, Pets Best.)

For how accident, illness and orthopedic waits work across policies in general, see pet insurance waiting periods.

The spread splits into two tiers. Pets Best, ASPCA, Pumpkin, MetLife and Odie treat hip dysplasia as an ordinary illness and apply their standard wait of about 14 days. Trupanion sits at 30 days with no orthopedic carve-out. At the other end, Embrace and Fetch use 180 days, Figo uses six months for dogs, and Healthy Paws uses a full 12 months for hip dysplasia specifically. Lemonade sits in between at 30 days for orthopedic conditions.

The cruciate mix-up that makes most comparisons wrong

This is the single most common error in pet-insurance comparisons, and it is worth understanding because it changes the answer for two insurers.

Several insurers publish a six-month waiting period that sounds like it covers all orthopedic conditions. Read the definition and it is narrower: at Pets Best and on Odie's main policy form, the six-month wait is defined around a cruciate ligament in the knee. Hip dysplasia is not a knee condition, so it falls back to the ordinary 14-day illness wait. Figo, Embrace and Fetch, by contrast, genuinely do apply their long wait to hips as well. (Sources: Pets Best, Odie, Figo, Embrace, Fetch.)

So "does this insurer have a six-month orthopedic wait" and "does this insurer make me wait six months for a hip" are different questions with different answers. If you are weighing knees rather than hips, our guide on cruciate ligament and ACL coverage works through that side.

Exam waivers, and who actually offers one

Most insurers will shorten an orthopedic wait if your veterinarian examines the dog shortly after the policy starts and signs a form confirming no existing problem. Three designs exist in the market:

Full waiver. Pets Best, ASPCA and Pumpkin share almost identical mechanics: a full exam from three days before to seven days after the policy start date, documented and signed at the exam, filed within 30 days. Healthy Paws waives its hip wait down to 30 days in 16 states on a clinical exam with no imaging required. Trupanion's exam-day offers waive waiting periods entirely when activated within 24 hours of a vet visit, though not in New York.
Partial waiver. Fetch waives orthopedic waits for knees only, explicitly not hips. Embrace's much-cited waiver survives in only three states (Kansas, New Mexico, South Carolina); in most others the 180-day exclusion is not waivable. (Sources: Fetch, Embrace.)
No consumer waiver. Odie waives only through pre-approved channels or proof of prior coverage. MetLife has none published, and largely does not need one.

Every waiver carries the same caveat in near-identical words, and it is the one owners miss: it shortens the waiting period, it does not change the pre-existing exclusion. An exam that happens to find an early hip problem converts that hip from "waiting" into "excluded for life." The waiver is worth doing on a dog with no signs, not as a way to get an existing problem covered.

Bilateral clauses: how one bad hip excludes the other

Hip dysplasia is frequently bilateral, and insurers write clauses for exactly that. Where the clause is active, a problem in one hip before enrollment or during the waiting period makes the other hip pre-existing too, for life. That clause is active and reaches hips at Embrace, Lemonade, ASPCA, Fetch and Odie's main form.

It does not reach hips everywhere. Healthy Paws states that the cruciate ligament is the only bilateral exclusion in its policy. Trupanion's pages, read on October 1, state no bilateral rule at all, and Pumpkin writes its bilateral language around knees, patellas and soft tissue rather than hips. Figo and Pets Best define the term but have no operative clause in their current forms, which is worth asking about directly rather than assuming either way.

Pre-existing rules and look-back windows

Two traps compound everything above. First, the look-back: Trupanion counts signs or evidence of a condition's potential manifestation in the 18 months before the policy's effective date, and its own pages read on October 1, 2026 state no longer window for hip dysplasia and no condition-specific waiting periods. An earlier version of this page said the look-back was unlimited for hip dysplasia; we could not support that in the insurer's own words, so it is withdrawn. Odie's main form does something similar by classing hip dysplasia as both chronic and bilateral. (Sources: Trupanion, Odie.)

Second, the curable-condition resets that rescue other conditions do not rescue this one. Embrace's 12-month reset, Pumpkin's 180 days and similar clauses elsewhere are written to exclude ligament, knee and chronic conditions. MetLife states the position most plainly: it lists hip dysplasia and orthopedic conditions among conditions it considers incurable, which will likely not be covered at any point. (Sources: Embrace, Pumpkin, MetLife.)

The practical version: what your vet wrote in the chart before you enrolled matters more than anything on the insurer's marketing page. At most insurers, veterinary advice alone, with no diagnosis and no treatment, is enough to make a condition pre-existing.

Breeds most affected

Hip dysplasia is largely inherited and is most common in large-breed dogs, though it can also affect small-breed dogs and cats. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals grades hip X-rays that veterinarians send in for screening, and Cornell's Riney Canine Health Center describes it as a common inherited orthopedic condition. (Sources: OFA, Cornell, Merck Veterinary Manual.) Breeds that Cornell, VCA and the AKC name as commonly affected include:

German Shepherd
Labrador Retriever, and our full guide to pet insurance for Labradors
Golden Retriever, and our guide to pet insurance for Golden Retrievers
Rottweiler, and the Bulldog breeds, including the French bulldog: our guide to pet insurance for French bulldogs
Saint Bernard and Great Dane
Old English Sheepdog

A predisposition is not a diagnosis, and a well-bred dog from screened parents can be entirely fine. What the breed list is useful for is timing: if your dog is on it, the waiting-period column above is the one to optimize, and enrolling before any hip is ever mentioned in the record is the single highest-value move available to you.

If your dog is already diagnosed

Be straight with yourself here, because this is where owners waste money. If hip dysplasia is already in your dog's records, essentially no insurer will cover that condition. You can still insure the dog, and coverage will apply to unrelated future problems, which for a young dog is a real amount of risk. What you cannot do is buy a policy expecting the existing hips to be paid for, and several insurers class hip dysplasia as incurable so the symptom-free resets will not open it later either.

Two things are still worth doing. Ask specifically how the insurer treats the unaffected hip, because the bilateral answer varies and one insurer's answer may be materially better than another's. And if you already hold a policy, the free Insurance Checkup walks the five numbers that decide whether it would hold up against an orthopedic surgery year.

Questions people ask

Does pet insurance cover hip dysplasia?
Nearly every major accident-and-illness plan does, as a hereditary condition, provided it is not pre-existing. The difference between insurers is the waiting period, not the coverage.

What is the waiting period for hip dysplasia?
Between 14 days and 12 months depending on the insurer and your state. Pets Best, ASPCA, Pumpkin, MetLife and Odie apply about 14 days; Embrace and Fetch use 180 days; Healthy Paws uses 12 months.

If one hip is already affected, is the other hip covered?
It depends on the bilateral clause. Embrace, Lemonade, ASPCA, Fetch and Odie's main form can exclude the second hip. Healthy Paws, Trupanion and Pumpkin write theirs around knees rather than hips.

Can an exam shorten the wait?
Often yes, and it is usually worth doing on a dog with no signs. But a waiver never changes the pre-existing exclusion, and Fetch's waiver covers knees only, not hips.

Sources

The bottom lineCoverage is not the differentiator, the wait is. If your dog is a breed prone to hip dysplasia, favor an insurer that treats it as an ordinary illness on a roughly 14-day wait, ask how the bilateral clause handles the second hip, and enroll before a vet ever writes "hips" in the chart. After that note exists, no waiting period or waiver can help you.

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This is educational information, not insurance or veterinary advice. Insurer details are gathered from public sources and change often, so confirm current terms directly with each insurer. Some links on this site may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you, and it never changes what we write.