It is a privilege to have a pet these days, but for those of us who do, it is becoming harder and harder to properly care for them when it comes to veterinary care.
Even if you own pet insurance, the monthly payments continue to go up, and most claims filed won’t be counted towards your deductible anyway. It’s time to get a discussion going about how to effectively change the pet insurance field so that our furry companions can live a life well lived without saddling owners with thousands of dollars of debt.
Additionally, veterinary costs are through the roof as well. I understand the time and dedication it takes to become a vet, and I appreciate all that these loving providers do for our pets, but when you have to decide between surgery for a young dog, who has so much life left to live, or putting the dog down, it’s truly gotten out of hand. How can we encourage veterinary care to adopt similar aspects to human healthcare (while being mindful that human healthcare is by no means perfect and needs its own reforms too)? Are there ways to offer pet insurance policies that have different tiers that cover routine visits (like dental cleanings, etc.) and extreme scenarios like surgery?
Is this even a topic for government consideration or is there someone in the private sector willing to take this on and shake up the status quo?
I’d love to hear some ideas and feedback on this topic…
As an individual that has managed a veterinary hospital for close to 40 years I agree costs have become crazy. But you have to remember that my equipment, supplies and drugs are the same as human medicine. My profit margin is very small compared to human medical services. The AMA has recognized shortages in medical staff and created PRN and NP’s the AVMA is refusing to do that. The AVMA won’t in most states even allow a certified technician give a rabies shot. Veterinary costs are going up because of the massive shortage of veterinarians and because COVID drove medical supplies up. Cracking down on pharmaceutical companies, and allowing veterinarians from other countries to work in America would be a great place to start.
This is not a topic for government involvement as are so many things people bring up. The market should and will decide over time what are acceptable prices for services such as these. As with any product or service in a free market economy, the consumer will determine what is acceptable.
There should not be a $95 fee for the PET POISON CONTROL either. We should all be able to keep our pets healthy without having to pay a fee for how to treat our pet that may/did get into something.
There are many private organizations, including nonprofits, that offer financial aid in these circumstances. Additionally, if you stop to consider the differences between human doctors and veterinarians, vets are usually way more skilled as they are expected to be able to perform routine exams, dentals, surgery, ER, lab work, euthenasia, possibly come into contact with human-fatal diseases with no prior knowledge, all while their patients won’t say a word and may be happy to bite their face off. And all of this for multiple species. Someone correct me but I believe there are about 300 million pets in the u.s., and 127,000 licensed veterinarians. If anything, vets should be quadroupling their prices.
Thank you everyone who has chimed in so far. This feedback is great, and reading all of your responses has been a really good learning experience.
Sounds like we need more vets to support our furry friends, continue to crack down on pharmaceutical companies, and let the market do it’s thing to course correct in this sector.
If you have any privately owned vet clinics in your area, support them as best you can as long as their standard of care is what you expect. The past 2-3 years corporates have been gobbling them up because there’s a large number of private vet / owners that are well beyond retirement age and would give the clinic away for free if it meant anyone was taking care of their clients. Others are selling because they refuse to raise prices but cant stay in business without doing that, so corporate takes over and raises prices anyway.
It’s easy to blame the corporations or capitalism for everything, (I’m not saying you are) but it’s usually more complicated than that. Most of us don’t understand how complex systems interact and intersect each other, but in our current economic environment there are two major contributing factors to why everything is getting more expensive. 1. Inflation. The U.s. doubled the volume of world reserve currency, we should have seen the cost of everything double or triple in one year, which is why some countries did experience 100% inflation. Our government and the federal reserve caused that and then flipped levers and dials so we didnt feel that pain as much as the rest of the world. But now they have to raise their prices just to make the same margins as they were before. 2. The ratio of vets to pets is too high amd there is no quick solution to that either.