To think pet insurance has made some veterinary costs ridiculous?

[whiteroseredrose]

Actually still heartbroken about my little dog but also shocked about this.

We've self-insured Ddog because when we first got him the vet thought he might have a heart murmur so insurance prices leapt up. Currently c. £5,000 available in the account.

Yesterday the vet asked if he was insured. When I said no she outlined a treatment plan. I then asked what would have been different if I'd had insurance. She said that in that case she'd have liked a CAT scan to confirm the diagnosis although the treatment probably wouldn't change. She thought the cost was c.£1,500. I said that we could cover it so the receptionist started to phone around for availability and costs.

One place said £1800 - £2500 and another quoted £2500 - £5000 for identical treatments.

For comparison a private CAT scan for a person is £480 - £600 locally.

I'd love to know how much the equipment costs and the operator's hourly rate.

I think the prices are this high because insurance companies just pay up and then increase premiums.

I'm insured but we were told that the mri would be £2200 (we pay the first £60) but that includes full sedation, up to 24 hours post sedation monitoring and a canine neurological expert's time. We haven't decided. I'm sure it costs that much for humans full cost recovery or more.

Ps our insurance is £29/month for up to £10k lifetime insurance for an 8 year old. If you can it's worth buying.

My vet actually told me that the price for my (RIP ) Labrador's medication was lower if I was paying myself - they charged the insurance company a higher price if they were paying directly. No wonder my premiums keep on going up.

I have insured our puppy but for our 5 yr old dog, we put a set amount in a savings account each month instead.

My only comment is that you never have to actually wait for treatment at a vet - surgery or investigations are immediate, and that's really what you're paying for. The heating/insurance, vet nurses, equipment costs, drugs in stock, having a vet on for 24 hour cover 365 days a year.

Our vets work endlessly long days and I rarely begrudge the bill we get in honesty.

Oh and I'm about to cancel the insurance for my other dog. Aged 6, she has no health problems at all, we have only made two claims on the insurance, both over four years ago (once when she was hit by a car and needed an X-ray - nothing broken thank goodness, and once when she broke into a cupboard, stole a tin of chocolates and needed to be purged immediately), and the monthly premiums with PetPlan are £75!!! For a fit and healthy dog! We are doing what the OP does and putting some money aside each month instead.

Healthcare is expensive. There are loads of overheads too-salaries, pngoing training, rents, utility bills, equipment costs.Vets also have to charge VAT which soon pushes the price up. Sadly I think this is causing an increase in the corporate chains as the independents are likely struggling to cover costs without losing clients.
Whilst collecting a prescription for our old cat a nurse at our vets told me they can't buy the medicines in as cheaply as the online pet pharmacies.

Can I just clarify that my own vets are just fine and their costs are OK. It's the ad-ons that are usually covered by insurance. Both the vet and I were shocked at how much the scan costs were. I'd also be interested to know what % of charges are at the lower amount of the estimate!

OP no Vet or Veterinary Nurse goes into the profession to make money I assure you.

In the UK, the luxury of the NHS means we have lost sight of what medical treatment actually costs.

Speak to an American, $50,000 for a caesarean and that bill for your dog isn't looking so bad!

Horse insurance has gone through the roof in the last 10 years because of the developments in treatment options. Thing is, they're only any good if you can access them. If I wanted to insure mine I'd have to pay the same whether they're at my address (where the nearest specialist equine vet is over three hours away and the local vet has no facilities to operate on horses) or at my SIL's address (not far from Newmarket with the best horsepital care money can buy). Her horse racked up a bill of over £10k recently. My treatment choices if something goes wrong basically boil down to box rest or bullet and I see little point in paying nearly £200 a month for that.

I have just spent out over £1200 on vet fees for my cat. I have 3 cats and no insurance as the premiums are too high as the cats are deaf so I self insure.
Worth every penny as my vet is excellent and my cat would have died without treatment.

Thatthingthat you do... The USA is an insurance based system too and costs are astronomical. I wonder how other countries compare.

@MadisonAvenue - how do you get the Advocate privately please..? Asking for a furry friend, natch

@TheNoodlesIncident I've sent you a PM

Agree totally op, my dog who’s 11 needed cruciate surgery last year. I asked Vets for quote and they said £2500-3k, I was then asked if I had insurance, when I said no the cost went to £1000 all inclusive!! They are a big chain of vets so doubt they were just giving me a discount from the goodness of thier hearts.

We put a bit aside each month for him in case of treatment.

Friends cat had cruciate surgery and was insured (petplan) and had to pay £800 excess, madness.

My vet actually told me that the price for my (RIP sad) Labrador's medication was lower if I was paying myself - they charged the insurance company a higher price if they were paying directly. No wonder my premiums keep on going up

I'm hoping somehow this has been misinterpreted, as this is insurance fraud.

Friends cat had cruciate surgery and was insured (petplan) and had to pay £800 excess, madness

This sounds like there were things not covered by the policy (maybe some of it fell outside of the policy time frame or there was an exclusion and/or a % co-payment on the policy). Pet plan don't charge £800 excesses as standard.

OP the price variation that you have will be because they cover different things. I would expect the lower estimate is on an outpatient basis - you go, they do the scan and then your own vet gets the results and follows up, where as the higher estimate is more likely for them to diagnose/set a treatment plan using their specialists (eg if your dog was having a scan to determine the cause of seizures, you'd have a specialist neurologist do the initial diagnosis and treatment plan before handing back over to your vet but with the continued specialist support)

I’m a vet, here’s some random thoughts.

In the UK we’re not used to paying for medical care and when you have to do it it’s a bit of a shock.
Due to above we have no reference as to what medical care costs.

Veterinary practices are businesses - they have a multitude of overheads and yes, are run ultimately to make a profit like most other businesses.
Vets are well paid, but not that well paid compared to other professionals- I’m a GP 25yrs qualified with a post grad qualification- if I worked full time I may earn K45-50. Vets who own businesses will earn more as no one makes a fortune working for someone else. Veterinary Nurses make maybe K20.

Small animal practice has changed a lot in the last 10 years or so - younger graduates are under the impression I think that if they don’t offer ‘gold standard’ treatment they are being negligent. There is much more referral of cases now and upsurge in numbers of specialist vets and referral practices. These provide amazing treatment but at high cost.
Back in the day there was no referring - we just had a (educated) go at things.

Some clients want specialist treatment; some want the cheapest possible, some want in between. None are wrong provided the animal’s welfare is protected and the client is happy with the choice. I think a lot of younger vets are worried about making this distinction.

The development of the insurance market over the last 20 years has allowed these great advances in techniques to be made but now the rising costs required to fund the specialists threaten to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs - the insurance bubble may well burst.

Charging differently for insured and uninsured treatment of the same condition is fraud.

At no point should any client, insured or not, feel compelled to spend money they don’t want to. Talk to your vet - anyone doing their job right will go through different options for you.
The ‘best’ treatment is not necessarily the best for you or your pet.

You will find that the royal vet college and such places have treatments available for animals before people as this is where the money is to develop such treatments for example it’s the first place I saw a mri a ct scanner and a thermal scanner way before the nhs

And also, this process is being driven somewhat by the RCVS in a deliberate drive to improve standards. There is a feel that GPs like me shouldn’t be doing certain things - things that we have been doing for a long time.
It’s a frustration because most of the time I can provide an appropriate level of affordable care for my patients.