Pet owners beware: There will come a time when your vet (or, God forbid, a specialist) will ask you to pay more than you’d rather fork over for the treatment of one of your pet’s maladies. Whether it’s an unforeseen illness (after eating out of the garbage, let’s say), devastating injury (the dreaded hit-by-car) or a chronic issue finally rearing its ugly head (yep, it’s finally time for that hip replacement), the price is likely to be steep.
On the one hand, it’s a good thing that vet medicine has so much to offer that the price of technology is finally showing up on your vet invoices. On the other hand, how will you pay for them?
It’s this vet’s opinion that everyone needs a plan if they want to play their role of responsible pet owner to the hilt. Any less might leave you feeling the guilt forevermore. And if you think I speak self-servingly, recall that even vets have vet bills. Tally ‘em up and I’ll wager mine beat most of yours. (But that’s mostly just because vets are in a position to give themselves away—that counts as vet bills, right?)
VNN (the Veterinary News Network) has graciously agreed to grant me the privilege of using their informative three-minute video on this subject as a worthy talking point. Here it is (for your viewing pleasure).
If you haven’t the time (or the MediaPlayer), I’ll summarize it for you:
You’re both blessed and cursed to live as an American pet in this high-tech world of vet medicine. Sure, you’ve got the fancy care just within your grasp…but only if your family can afford it.
So how can your family do its best to finance your inevitable injuries and ills? It’s got three choices:
1-Make enough money to keep you in the veterinary high-life, come hell or high water,
2-save enough, through a pet health savings plan, to accomplish the same ends, or
3-latch onto a pet health insurance program so that the bulk of your bills get paid in most of your brushes with death and disease (though not all).
Of course, it’s all easier said than done. All of it requires that your family truly care for you, have sufficient monetary means to pay, in advance, for your worst case scenarios, and have the smarts and wherewithal to make it all happen.
No matter how you slice it, this video spells it out: Pet owners have to plan. The less they have, the more they need to do so.
And every year, the stakes are higher. With each passing month, in fact, what vet medicine can achieve becomes disproportionately greater than what the average pet owner has to offer to offset the mounting cost of high-end healthcare. Again, that’s both wonderful and frightening. It’s no wonder that we generalists increasingly stress out at the widening gap between what’s possible and what’s feasible, sitting in our front row seats as we do.
If there’s one take-away point here you can glean from my slightly depressing take on the subject of pet healthcare financing, it’s that most of you are in control. But it takes a dedicated, intelligent pet owner to make the most of this kind of information. In short: Get your s--- together. Dedicate a portion of your income to your pet. Decide what it’s going to be, up front, and start putting your money where your heart is.
Sure, it sounds like something you should take with a grain of salt. After all, I’m sort of the proverbial fox guarding the henhouse, extolling the virtues of saving your pennies…for me. But consider the alternative. One way or another you’ll be at someone’s mercy in the event of an emergency. May as well remain beholden to own resources.
Take it from me, your best bet allows you to stay in control of what you can and can’t do for your pet. After all, no planning helps you not at all.
Happy Halloween!
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Maybe we should be stressing to clients the fact that unexpected events, both in the life of the animal and the owner, make planning for the future as important as an annual check-up or dental cleaning. It wouldn't have to be much..just include a brochure or two with meds and discharge instructions or upon payment for routine visits when the client is clear headed and can let the information sink in.
Not the least of which is money, btw. I would have to use a credit card for really big bills, or set up a payment plan. Moody's last three weeks, for example, cost over $1000, which was a big deal for my family. I can't imagine what I would have done if his FIP had really been a tumour, something the vet. neurologist initially thought. That would have been expensive to treat.
And, you said:
"All of it requires that your family truly care for you..."
Um. This is where I get really uncomfortable. Because a person doesn't have the dollars to pay for extraoridnary care (which wouldn't have been available 15 years ago) doesn't mean they don't care for their animals. An aquaintence at the dog park put her boxer down because she couldn't afford the hip surgery. The other owners were really harsh to her after- but is it only a sign of a lack of caring if someone can't pay for ops like this one? Should poor people not own pets- is it irresponsible to keep an animal if you can only afford high-end care?
I don't know the answer to that last one, but I am curious as to what you think, Dr. K.
I realize we were lucky that these tests and procedures were spread out enough over time that we somehow managed to absorb them into the budget. Should we ever have a kitty that needed major surgery...I'm not sure what we would do. As we are in the position of looking for another kitty or two to adopt, this post comes at a good time. My only concern is that we hope to adopt an adult cat, and I don't think many pet insurance agencies will offer coverage for adults. It may be best for us to just put aside money in savings.
"All of it requires that your family truly care for you, have sufficient monetary means to pay, in advance, for your worst case scenarios, and have the smarts and wherewithal to make it all happen."
That's an awful lot to expect from most people, regardless of whether they fullfil the first part of the statement.
Your point on the inequity of it all is something I talk about with my SO a lot. It somehow seems absurd to be a companion animal vet in a world torn apart by poverty, war and famine--not to mention the impending doom of global warming. I could go crazy stressing out over it all--or I could continue to do my thing and take my best stab at making the world a better place.
I think having savings is much better than pet insurance or Care Credit. With the medical problems that my three dogs have had, even with the back surgery, I've still spent less than I would have on insurance premiums. And like Regina said, the interest rate on Care Credit is insane; while I understand why so many vets offer it, it almost seems almost unethical to dangle those terms in front of someone in a tough situation.
If I hadn't have had the money for the surgery, my dog probably would have had a decent outcome. From the vets I've talked to, it seems like most people don't have the luxury to opt for surgery and end up waiting. And outcomes for those dogs have gotten much better. Still I recommend socking whatever you can away for emergencies.
while I understand why so many vets offer it, it almost seems almost unethical to dangle those terms in front of someone in a tough situation
The unfortunate truth of the matter is that many pets would never have any sort of care for traumatic injury or illness without the benefit of CareCredit. You are SOO right, the interest rates are astronomical if you don't pay within a specified time frame. But, these rates are really no different than most other same as cash options you might find elsewhere. AND, in 14 years of working with CareCredit through the veterinary hospitals I was involved with, I rarely had cause to fault CareCredit. They helped many people in those tough situations. Without them, the pet owner will turn to the veterinarian for help, and, as we have seen in Dr. K's previous blogs, that happens far too frequently anyway, causing stress for veterinarians and staff.
Bloat? Nope. Arthritis? Cancer? Dysplasia? Nope. Megaesophagus? Perianal fistulas? Nada. Pretty much the only good they'd do me is in case of a traumatic accident. I guess being able to get coverage is one big bonus to mutt ownership.
I've got a credit card that's designated for gas and vet bills, once that's maxxed out, I'd have to apply for CreditCare or similar to deal with emergencies. It's not a matter of love, it's more a matter of me being a student and having to pay all my other bills to get by.
But I will not trust any pet insurance company. There is no way that I can know what my dog might or might not have that will not show up for 6 years.
Like Dr. Link mentioned above--even vets aren't immune to the big money vet expenses. This kind of plan would make sense for people who can handle the basics and prefer to use their own savings but who wouldn't be averse to having some protection in the event of a week-long ICU stay at the local Vet School's hospital.
THank beign said, most insurance companies offer a basic "emergency" level of care for less than $10/mo. per animal. Most also cap-out around $5000 for the year, but it's a whole lot better than no coverage.
Another thing, and this is totally old skool- I belong to a breed chat room. Three times now (two of which were non-animal related. TOne member was facing foreclosure on her home and one is facing cancer treatment), regular posters have pulled together when a member was in a horrible situation and helped out BIG TIME financially. We have a very strong community that has developed over the internet, but we feel like a family and we help each other when we can. So, I guess there's truly something to be said for an old-fashioned sense of community!!!! We've even tossed around the idea of starting an emergency fund, but no one want to be in charge of it. None of us are good with money! Lol....;)
I can certainly understand why vets offer Care Credit. It certainly fills a void that I don't think vets should be required to fill. I just wish there were more options.
However, if guardianship becomes the standard, then the guardian won't have the option to withhold care for their ward. Any pet guardian will be legaly required to spend what it takes to care for their ward's illnesses, just as a human parent cannot legaly decide not to take their kid into the hospital when he breaks his arm.
This is the dark side of guardianship that most advocates never address.
@ lindabcs: It's too bad your experience with pet insurance for your GSDs was a bad one. There are actually companies (like mine) that do cover gastric torsion, cancer, hip dysplasia, and other (supposedly) genetic/congenital conditions. I know that some well-known pet insurance companies don't cover this stuff but others (like Embrace) do.
"July, bitch with pyometra on her first heat, $1500 (e-vet.) August, three vaccinated dogs (one eight months old, two sixteen months old) hospitalized with parvo, around $2500. September, broken leg requiring an external fixator, $1000."
The love of my saved animals...
Priceless.
If the treatment/surgery etc. will restore them to baseline or an acceptable level of comfort mine are getting it. That said, especially when we are talking cancer, I'm more of a palliative type person rather than pull out all the stops because from what I've seen the end result is usually the same after months of suffering. My husband and I live simply and work like idiots to make sure we have the funds available for the next double TPLO or whatever comes our way.