Does an emotional service animal impact insurance quotes?

To clear up any questions about assistance animals generally. Here’s the current policy.

Support animals are not service animals. They are a different subset of assistance animals and have different rights/obligations/limits. Psychiatric service animals are another subset. All three categories are accounted for in the law. There’s no such thing as an emotional service animal. There are emotional support animals. When in doubt go to HUD, the ADA website and your state laws for clarification. Not Reddit.

HUD says:

What is an assistance animal?

An assistance animal is an animal that works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or that provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified effects of a person’s disability. An assistance animal is not a pet.

The ADA says:

Q3. Are emotional support, therapy, comfort, or companion animals considered service animals under the ADA?

A. No. These terms are used to describe animals that provide comfort just by being with a person. Because they have not been trained to perform a specific job or task, they do not qualify as service animals under the ADA. However, some State or local governments have laws that allow people to take emotional support animals into public places. You may check with your State and local government agencies to find out about these laws.

Q4. If someone’s dog calms them when having an anxiety attack, does this qualify it as a service animal? A. It depends. The ADA makes a distinction between psychiatric service animals and emotional support animals. If the dog has been trained to sense that an anxiety attack is about to happen and take a specific action to help avoid the attack or lessen its impact, that would qualify as a service animal. However, if the dog’s mere presence provides comfort, that would not be considered a service animal under the ADA.