The Canine Review

09/30/2024

For any Nationwide Pet policy holder

I’m an investigative reporter and executive editor of a watchdog news service (no pun intended) focused on the pet industry. I’m writing a story about pet insurance; in fact, we broke the story about the Nationwide non-renewals in April.

Several of you spoke with me earlier in the summer regarding your insurance policies. I now need to follow up with folks I've already interviewed and will be getting back in touch.

If you purchased a pet insurance policy through Petco, either by phone, in person, or online, I'd appreciate hearing from you.
Please contact me on my cell phone at 917-297-3537 or email me at [email protected].

Finally, if every person reading this post with a Nationwide Pet policy could text me at 917-297-3537 or email [email protected] with the following information or any info you can provide, I'd be most grateful:

1. Last name, First name
2. Name of pet insurance policy/product
3. City, state of pet insurance enrollment
4. Pet’s age, species, breed
5. Estimated $ claims payout by insurance to date (if known)
6. Status of pet insurance policy
7. Average monthly veterinary costs (estimated)
8. Best way to contact you if you are willing to be interviewed
Thanks so much,
Emily

08/13/2024

Veterinarians! Dog Folk! Trupanion Lashes Nonrenewals, But Silent On Its Own Stance

Ms. Tooth made several comments about Nationwide’s non-renewals…prompting TCR to follow-up with her at the conclusion of the earnings call last Thursday evening via text message to her personal cell phone with the following “yes” or “no” question. To be sure she received it, we also sent the question to the personal email addresses of former Trupanion COO and board member Howard Rubin and Chairman of the Board Darryl Rawlings. They were given all of Friday and the weekend to respond.

“Can you assure every Trupanion policyholder and veterinarian today as CEO that Trupanion will never cancel or non-renew a policy other than for reason of nonpayment, fraud, or cancellation on the owner’s part?”

We’ve yet to receive a response.

Given Ms. Tooth’s statements about Trupanion’s reliable, long-lasting policy in contrast to Nationwide’s, asking Ms. Tooth to respond, “yes” or “no” unequivocally whether Trupanion would ever take the action of Nationwide against Trupanion policyholders for reasons other than nonpayment, fraud, or cancellation on the owner’s part seemed like a softball question Trupanion should have happily and easily answered.



Full Story https://thecaninereview.com/2024/08/12/trupanion-lashes-nationwide-nonrenewals-but-silent-on-own-stance/

08/12/2024

Veterinarians! Trupanion Lashes Nationwide Nonrenewals, But Silent On Its Own Stance

No answer from new Trup CEO: Can you assure every Trupanion policyholder and veterinarian today as CEO that Trupanion will never cancel or non-renew a policy other than for reason of nonpayment, fraud, or cancellation on the owner’s part?

https://thecaninereview.com/2024/08/12/trupanion-lashes-nationwide-nonrenewals-but-silent-on-own-stance/

Nationwide story is wrapping up.

"Can you assure every Trupanion policyholder and veterinarian today as CEO that Trupanion will never cancel or non-renew a policy other than for reason ...

06/19/2024

Please Share

I'm genuinely thrilled to see so many new reporters in the pet insurance space covering the Nationwide non-renewal story we broke in April, but you are all making substantive errors and missing critical context when you report the "100,000" figure. It's like listening to nails on a chalkboard.

Please, Please, Please:

Do the requisite research and reporting, talk to Brendan Brigeland at the NAIC, familiarize yourselves with the NAIC, talk to regulators, talk to Birny Birnbaum, and start attending pet insurance regulatory meetings. Or: Source our reporting The Canine Review

The best reporters not only credit any reporting they use in their own reporting, but are smart and secure enough to reach out to those reporters/experts.

Best, EB 917-297-3537

06/13/2024

AVMA leaders were asked if any of those statements were inaccurate repeatedly.

06/13/2024

From: Emily Brill
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2024 9:08 AM
To: Emily Brill
Cc: Dr. Lisa Fortier >; Dr. Janet Donlin Lori Teller Dr. Gail Golab Isham Jones
Subject: Important Re: Story About Retraction PRESS

All, Please let me know if any of the following is inaccurate:

1. The AVMA is refusing to release Sharon Center’s unpublished 4,000 word letter to the editor along with several other leading experts’ letters you received regarding this now retracted Hill’s authored paper. The letters identify numerous, substantive problems in a now retracted paper which JAVMA released and widely disseminated across the Internet.

2. The now retracted paper was authored by 3 Hill’s employees including the company’s chief medical officer.

3. The paper reaches conclusions whose interests line up squarely on the side of the employer of the authors. The conclusion dismisses and contradicts decades of expert peer reviewed research from leading vets (two of the authors are not veterinarians) suggesting that there is no nexus between a dog’s diet and copper hepatopathy.
4. AVMA is making a copyright claim on letters to the editor submitted by veterinarians which the AVMA ultimately did not publish.

5. Again: one more time, those letters from these leading veterinary experts which identify numerous substantive problems in a paper you’ve now retracted will not be published, and you were making a copyright claim on those letters . Is that correct?
7. AVMA’s retraction note itself is false and misleading, according to the vets who wrote the letters.

If any of this is inaccurate, please let me know.

06/13/2024

Dog Food Fight. Controversy Engulfs After Retraction.
Top Veterinarians Say Retraction Itself Is Misleading; Charge That Their Letters Disputing Funded Article And Causing The Retraction Have Been Muzzled.

Excerpt
As noted, Dr. Center declined to provide what she told TCR is a 4,000-word Letter to the Editor for publication because, she says, she believes she could face legal exposure in the face of JAVMA’s claim that it owns a copyright to her letter.

Journalists are ethically obligated to avoid providing legal advice to sources and story subjects because they should not be perceived as advocates, but TCR did press JAVMA on the matter of the copyright claim and how Dr. Center could have been under the impression that she was not at liberty to disseminate the letter.

Full email exchange including the copyright claim TCR ran into.
https://bedforddog-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/emily_thecaninereview_com/EYLdZtVTv0NJqAzpWHaCi7YBdCUmxo8cjhcovt51uRsbOQ?e=oIF2hz

Dr. Fortier of JAVMA seemed to try to block anyone from reading the as-yet unpublished letters. She made a copyright claim in writing to TCR when we asked about the unpublished letters and why Dr. Center said she believed she would not be at liberty to provide her letter to TCR for publication without risking legal exposure.
—-
“The statistical approach of the data is naïve and incorrect…,” Twedt, Webster et al wrote. “The hepatic copper quantitation methodology appears flawed,” the vets continue. “We find their summary and conclusions to be incorrect and misleading. It is obvious to us the authors have little if any knowledge of copper associated hepatopathies and hepatic copper metabolism.”

Full story in bio on homepage

06/10/2024

We have an urgent breaking news situation. I’m sorry but I had to delay nationwide another couple days. I promise you I will not rest this week until it is out. P.s. It’s not the bark air story . Not even close. EB

05/07/2024

FYI Pet Owners, Vet Professionals: The moderator of the “Pet Insurance Info Exchange”group banned my access when I started making inquiries about her financial conflicts of interests. I asked her there was any financial relationship whose interests could be affected with her positions taken on the message board, and she banned my access. The pet industry needs a watchdog (excuse the pun); TCR was born out of my interest in pet insurance reporting. I've been a policy reporter for over 20 years and i think pet insurance is one of the most important business stories of the decade.

One point of frustration has been that the Nationwide non-renewals are leaving many people in a situation that my reporting has been highlighting for years, but the moderator of this group has banned the reporting, links, etc.

The Canine Review is the only independent, investigative news business covering the pet industry. Our only revenue source is our subscription revenue, which means we're not beholden to sponsors, advertisers, clicks for cash, and we don't do undisclosed bu****it. That's really important for an industry that has not yet faced the kind of accountability that strong, independent, investigative journalism brings.

If you currently get your "information" about pet insurance from a Facebook group like the “Pet Insurance Info Exchange” – I strongly encourage you to join TCR’s new group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1495927214694186/

I believe the moderators of the “Pet Insurance Info. Exchange” Group are part of a larger problem -- of undisclosed industry relationships through third parties; I’ll be writing about this soon, but my energy right now is focused on the nationwide non-renewal situation.

Please get the information I’m giving you to other members of the group restricting information that they should leave and join here

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1495927214694186/

and let them know that all insurance reporting will be published exclusively for free/outside the paywall on our new FB group which everyone should join.

We will be hosting live Q&A events with established consumer advocates specializing in insurance, attorneys, and other specialists as soon as this gets underway.

Please share this widely.

Emily

Mr. Bones & Co. and Rescue the Runway
Hudson Valley Veterinary Dermatology
Veterinarians
Veterinary Technician Management and Discussion Group
Veterinarians, Vet Techs, and Vet Assistants Unite!

05/05/2024

Nationwide Now Axing Pet Insurance Policyholders Everywhere
https://thecaninereview.com/2024/04/22/nationwide-now-axing-pet-insurance-policyholders-everywhere/

05/05/2024

https://thecaninereview.com/2024/05/02/trupanion-founder-ceo-bows-out/

Trupanion CEO/Founder Bows Out. Company Headwinds Persist.

05/03/2024

https://thecaninereview.com/2024/05/02/trupanion-founder-ceo-bows-out/

Trupanion Founder/CEO Bows Out

NEW

04/23/2024

We have much more insurance reporting in the pipeline. And we need your help; we want to hear from you. Please talk to us about your experiences with pet insurance—good and bad. [email protected] 917-297-3537 share this!!

04/23/2024

https://thecaninereview.com/2024/04/23/nellies-taylor-swift-tribute-video/

04/23/2024

For some lighter fare we will be publishing this on the Nellie blog later today

Nellie Brill April 2024 Vlog Nellie is TCR‘s Head Labrador and sole blogger. You can find Nellie‘s blog—“Essentially Nellie: Confessions of a Labrador”— here...