Vet costs inflated?

madkitty

Im a little concerned that my vets inflate their costs if they know it will be going through the insurance company - I wouldnt mind so much but I now have to pay a 35% excess + £49 on my old cat and recently was hit with a £600 bill for treatment. How would you go about finding out whether the costs have been inflated? If it was all going through the insurance company I wouldnt mind but I refuse to be paying out myself for their profits!

Kimberley

How about paying out yourself for your cat? I know what you mean but your cat won't get better without a vet. Insurance or no insurance thats the price you pay if you want a pet.

madkitty

I know that but I also know that some vets have 2 prices for everything - 1 for those insured (higher charges) and 1 for those uninsured however my feeling is there should just be one flat cost

Kimberley

madkitty wrote: »

I know that but I also know that some vets have 2 prices for everything - 1 for those insured (higher charges) and 1 for those uninsured however my feeling is there should just be one flat cost

I know what you mean, it's certainly unfair. Maybe in future you could get the cost before treatment before they ask if he/she is insured?

ems28

I'm a vet student and I've worked at many vets and I can assure you that vets do not have two different prices for insured and uninsured clients. £600 may seem alot but the drugs used cost alot to buy in the first place. In addition to this if an animal is insured vets may choose to use better and more effective drugs. If an animal is uninsured owners may not be able to afford these drugs and cheaper drugs may have to be used which will still be effective but not as effective. Having your animal insured means he/she can recieve the best care available and means the vets are not retricted by costs. Surely that is why you decided to get your animal insured in the first place?

arealbasketcase

I know vet's bills feel expensive but just think about what you get:

Vet's train for years, longer than GP's, to specialise in animal care.
In my experience they are much more communicative than the average GP and prepared to spend the time to explain exactly what they are doing.
Many practices have a number of vet's each of whom will specialise in a particular area, if they haven't they will know a specialist and be prepared to ask for advice or refer you.
Drugs, well come on we all know how expensive they are, the trouble is in the UK we are somewhat sheltered from the reality because we don't pay for the treatment we human's receive.
I am sure that the vast majority of vet's do not have an official two tier charging regime, they simply want to do the best for both animal and human, if this means using drugs that an uninsured person can afford in order to provide adequate treatment they will but do you honestly think that a vet would allow any animal to suffer for lack of treatment?

Soubrette

madkitty wrote: »

I know that but I also know that some vets have 2 prices for everything - 1 for those insured (higher charges) and 1 for those uninsured however my feeling is there should just be one flat cost

I don't think they are allowed to do that. I personally believe that insurance ramps up the cost for everyone but I have never heard of two rates depending on whether you are insured or not.

Do you have actual evidence of vets charging two prices for exactly that same treatment or is it hearsay?

Sou

madkitty

it happened with my aunts dog! also insurance companies now state in their terms that they wont pay for overinflated costs so it must happen quite often for them to state this?

Soubrette

madkitty wrote: »

it happened with my aunts dog! also insurance companies now state in their terms that they wont pay for overinflated costs so it must happen quite often for them to state this?

What exactly happened with your aunt's dog? I'm genuinely interested in this, not just being nosey

I think the overinflated costs is a standard insurance term and condition - not just pet insurance. So it might be indicative of overinflated costs in pet insurance or it might be indicative of insurance companies being burned by inflated claims in car and contents in particular so now all insurance has that t&c,

Sou

madkitty

he was having lots of tests as he had problems with his ears and the costs were spiralling up and up without any insight into the problem - my aunt started to put her foot down and explained that she couldnt just keep paying out when there was no end in sight, when she mentioned this they asked her if she wasnt insured and the bill suddenyl ended up at half the cost it was originally,

Soubrette

madkitty wrote: »

he was having lots of tests as he had problems with his ears and the costs were spiralling up and up without any insight into the problem - my aunt started to put her foot down and explained that she couldnt just keep paying out when there was no end in sight, when she mentioned this they asked her if she wasnt insured and the bill suddenyl ended up at half the cost it was originally,

Hmmm, I see.

Giving the vet the benefit of the doubt - it could be that he swapped to cheaper, less effective medicines, although you would think that he would discuss that with her.

Not giving him the benefit of the doubt: he could have been offering your aunt unnecessary treatments (and thus inflating costs indirectly rather than directly). Or indeed he could have been inflating his costs directly as you have suggested.

It's hard to really see which one - what someone really needs to see is two identical treatments (and the treatments have to be identical - not the problem under treatment) and a definitive difference in price when one person has stated they are insured and the other not insured.

Thanks for the info kitty, just to add some more information to the mix here is a website (which may be biased of course) which references an article in The Times (which I can't find online) saying that insured pet owners DO spend more than non insured owners. Article . However, being fair, it may be that non insured people get less up to date treatments or choose not to treat their animals due to costs.

Sou