In the past decade, veterinary prices have increased more than 60 percent,
- Thread starter THE_DEVIL
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People treat their pets like they are their children. Veterinarians took full advantage.
It may also have to do with Vet school being extremely expensive.
It may also have to do with Vet school being extremely expensive.
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Veterinarians have to make their boat payments too, you know.
It isn't really the vets. It is the corporate orgs that are gobbling up the independent and setting higher prices.
OPs article is behind a paywall, but this article seems to do a good job of outlining the current state. Interestingly, this isn't an American capitalism, this is a trend across the world.
Pretty sure we already discussed this topic a year + ago.
My family has Lemonade Pet Insurance.
It's a big help for vet visits.
www.lemonade.com
It's a big help for vet visits.
Pet Insurance for Dogs & Cats by Lemonade
Lemonade Pet Insurance: everything you love about Lemonade now for cats and dogs. Instant claims and a digital experience driven by social good. :heart:
Our little 20lb dog needed a tooth pulled. We went to our vet down here in Weston and they told us it would cost $2,200 to have it pulled.
The timing was perfect because we went to Iowa in July and I called the local vet. He asked that we take him in so he could look at it. After a quick look he looks at my wife and says “I don’t know, $100 should do.
The timing was perfect because we went to Iowa in July and I called the local vet. He asked that we take him in so he could look at it. After a quick look he looks at my wife and says “I don’t know, $100 should do.
It's the same as with healthcare and dentistry and pharmacy, private equity and chains are destroying everything.
People with good Medical/Dental insurance can have the out-of-pocket costs minimized, but vet insurance even if you have it generally sucks and doesn't cover a lot and so people get stuck with outrageous vet bills compared to their personal medical/dental.
I just had an emergency room visit in October (Pending a Cardiological appt in December it looks like I'm OK--just old man in his late 50's issues) where the out-of-pocket if I wasn't insured was $3115.00, I'm paying $100.00.
This is a paywalled article from the Atlantic (link might work for most people -- you get one free article)
Why Your Vet Bill Is So High
Corporations and private-equity funds have been rolling up smaller chains and previously independent practices.
And an NPR Planet Money podcast that focuses on a local vet in Marshalltown Ia
That piece highlights how Elizabeth Warren is a treasure and it sucks the Dems lost control of the Senate, with MAGA taking over the government there aren't going to be any brakes on acceleration of this process.
The " white working class" just effs themselves over and over with their idiotic Trump worship. Those of us who are middle to upper middle class are probably going to be able to afford the extra expense to take care of Spot, probably not so much with a lot of the MAGA masses.
I can think of a really easy way to avoid big vet bills:
Don't own any pets
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It's the same as with healthcare and dentistry and pharmacy, private equity and chains are destroying everything.
People with good Medical/Dental insurance can have the out-of-pocket costs minimized, but vet insurance even if you have it generally sucks and doesn't cover a lot and so people get stuck with outrageous vet bills compared to their personal medical/dental.
I just had an emergency room visit in October (Pending a Cardiological appt in December it looks like I'm OK--just old man in his late 50's issues) where the out-of-pocket if I wasn't insured was $3115.00, I'm paying $100.00.
This is a paywalled article from the Atlantic (link might work for most people -- you get one free article)
Why Your Vet Bill Is So High
Corporations and private-equity funds have been rolling up smaller chains and previously independent practices.www.theatlantic.com
And an NPR Planet Money podcast that focuses on a local vet in Marshalltown Ia
We've seen this, explicitly, in HOA management and landscape/irrigation contractors.
Had 2x management companies "Wall-Streeted" with buyouts. Service quality plummeted.
Dumped them and found a privately owned firm - it's absolutely night-and-day w/ the service, and costs are actually LOWER.
Same deal w/ landscapers - had a good family-owned biz that was bought out. Within months, their service went to shit. We have several crabapple trees that never got irrigation turned on, and we're withholding >$20k in outstanding payments to them until we find out if those trees survive next spring. Hired a former manager from the original firm and getting good service like we had before the buyout.
Wall Street buys stuff up, because they cannot figure out how to "start" any business, so they just "streamline" things they can buy, destroy the customer service and rake in $$. And when they have markets cornered in areas, that's what you are stuck with. Eventually, smaller biz can step in to start taking accounts from them, but that can take years.
Our HOAs will no longer hire any company for services that is part of a larger conglomerate - we're only looking for privately owned stuff, because we've experienced the shitty services over the past 5 years, and gotten burned by them, badly.
It is a ridiculous industry at this point. It is absurd that a "prescription" is required to buy flea meds.
I take my little schnoodle rescue to an old guy who hasn’t changed his lobby decor since about 1983. He’s very old school and says things like “well there’s a shot for this but it costs $$$ and it’s maybe 75% effective so I’ll let you decide”.
He’s been our vet for 20 years and I’m dreading the day he finally retires. His building sits on a very valuable commercial piece of land and he’ll sell and be happy and I’ll have to look for a ridiculously expensive new place.
He’s been our vet for 20 years and I’m dreading the day he finally retires. His building sits on a very valuable commercial piece of land and he’ll sell and be happy and I’ll have to look for a ridiculously expensive new place.
The HOA Management Company I retired from sold out recently to some millionaire investor dude who lives in New Mexico - and we’re in Florida.
I don’t doubt that he saw it as a boutique higher end company with a solid brand because all we did were gated communities with higher end homes. The controller said he’s completely hands off - at this point.
Expenses for everyone and every business have gone up and if you want to keep good experienced people you have to pay or they’ll listen to offers from other companies. That’s reality.
Landscape companies have become a crapshoot. They were paying $18 an hour just to get people to show up and hold a leaf blower. The Mom and Pop outfits are in a bind and a guy in a pickup with a lawn mower and weed whacker is struggling.
I know for sure there prices vary big time with location in metropolitan areas. Don’t take your pets to vets in the nicest parts of your city if you live in an urban setting. Find a good vet in a nearby small town or the “south side of the tracks” and everything will be cheaper, in some cases much cheaper.
I go to Noem Veterinary Clinic. Their motto is “We’ll take care of your pets…guaranteed!”
It is the corporatization of local veterinarians. Mostly these vets are partnering up with a corporation that gives them their PC system, phone system, sets their prices, does their BDC for them through automation, and sets standard labor operations. Vets also have some pretty expensive medical equipment to purchase and a ton of staff.
I recently and unexpectedly lost my 10 year old American Eskimo dog from an adverse reaction to an arthritis injection that wiped out 9k-ish from my bank account. Never again.
I recently and unexpectedly lost my 10 year old American Eskimo dog from an adverse reaction to an arthritis injection that wiped out 9k-ish from my bank account. Never again.
I think vet and physician practices are like restaurants in many ways in terms of ownership - unless you find someone to take over for you there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Other professional firms as well.
I don’t begrudge them for selling out and continuing to work as an employee, but no doubt it seems like veterinary care these days seem like solutions in search of problems.
I don’t begrudge them for selling out and continuing to work as an employee, but no doubt it seems like veterinary care these days seem like solutions in search of problems.
We used to have three dogs. They all died after 12-15 years of love. Didn't really want any more pets, but we now have two feral cats who adopted us. One was seriously injured ($$$$ at the vet) so he now has to stay inside and isn't feral anymore. His mother still lives out on the grounds here at Tradition Manor and comes to see us mostly after dark or early in the morning.
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The suicide rate of veterinarians is 4x the general population. Their average pay is around 130k too which considering the cost of education and the stakes of the job the pay isn't enough for me to ever even entertain the idea of that career.
Another example of how megacorps buying up all the competition and setting up virtual monopolies is bad. These same megacorps will try to convince you that none of this is actually happening though and since it was on twitter, people believe them.
They can't set the price higher than people are willing to pay.
We had someone on this board asking about an MRI for their dog.
My brother last year sold the site of his business to a corporate vet outfit.
Getting a new vet appointment in Niceville is apparently a six month wait.
Capitalists respond to supply and demand signals.
Huh? I get Frontline stuff for fleas/ticks.
OTC once a month.
Also got a bottle of sheep drench ivermectin for heartworms, vs. overpriced HeartGard.
I found a small independent operation just a mile or so from my house, recommended by the Humane Society I adopted from.
Far cheaper than any of the fancy new places or chains that "sell pet insurance".
Very competent vets and no fancy exam room furniture. Not as expensive as the boutique places. Same care quality.
When I first moved to Des Moines from Iowa City, I took my dog to a vet in downtown Des Moines. It was supposed to be an intro to a new vet as my pup had just gotten her shots all up to date in IC. After the new vet met her and did a quick check up, one of the vet assistants comes up to me with a list of things I should consider. All-in-all their suggestions would run me close to $800. I said thanks, but no thanks. A couple of weeks later I went to a vet on the outskirts of Ankeny (Des Moines suburb) and she said my pup looked great and everything was up to date. She said we‘ll see you this time next year and sent us on our way.
You can also get flea collars like Seresto that last eight months OTC, but in the states where I reside or have property, you must have a prescription for Nexgard.
Is that dissimilar from where you reside or have property?
No; I use the topical stuff on my dog that you put on their fur (down the back) 1x/month.
Frontline is one brand; there are several, and 2 or 3 different topical medications
You know what I don't understand?
If your dog needs some sort of medication, the vet gives it to you right in the office.
If YOU need some sort of medication, the doctor can't give it to you, you have to schlep your sick ass from the doctor's office to the pharmacy so you can wait some more for your medication.
WHY?
If your dog needs some sort of medication, the vet gives it to you right in the office.
If YOU need some sort of medication, the doctor can't give it to you, you have to schlep your sick ass from the doctor's office to the pharmacy so you can wait some more for your medication.
WHY?
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