Not happy with vet costs these days.

elsien

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

I really don't think it matters how much human private health care costs. I am giving my opinion on animal health care. Completely two different things.
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I'm not talking about private health care costs per se, I'm talking about the actual cost of medication, whether for animals or human. And making the point that with some exceptions it's a heck of a sight more than the £7 prescription charge. Which gives the general population a very distorted picture of the true cost of medicines if that's all you're used to paying. Which most of us are.

krlyr

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

I really don't think it matters how much human private health care costs. I am giving my opinion on animal health care. Completely two different things.

And yes I have had to pay for a private medication prescription and to be honest it was about the same as what I have paid the vets for some tablets my dog needed for pain relief.

I don't think they're that different. As mentioned, my OH works on medical equipment - the same company provides the machines for both human and veterinary usage, the only difference really being the vet ones are sized more appropriately for animals.
The medical qualification for both doctor and vet takes 5 years I believe - 6 for a vet in some places. I would argue that become a vet requires even more work and skill because you will end up working with such a wide range of animals - from horse to mouse. What's a doctor got to differentiate between - male and female, adult and child, generally the anatomy is going to be very similar!

marmitepotato

elsien wrote: »

Have you ever had to pay the full cost of prescription medication for humans instead of the NHS prescription charges?
That's when you start to realise how much some medications can really cost when not subsidised.
The NHS is a wonderful institution but it does shield people from understanding the true costs of medical treatment, which is what vets are generally charging.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. My sister died of breast cancer last year. As she lived in South Africa she had to pay for every bit of treatment, consultation, every needle, cotton wool swab etc etc. the costs were shocking and she had to get permission from her med aid before each treatment began.


We must remember that when we take our pets to the vets, we are not just paying to see the vet, we are paying for the nursing staff, heating, lighting, business rates, etc etc. I think the OP's vets is pretty reasonable, I have yet to come away from my vet without parting with at least eighty quid on the first visit!

Bailey101

The price of vets fees is why I've always had all my animals insured with the most comprehensive policies I can get for them. One of my cats has a couple of long term health issues, that would have cost me a good few thousand over the last couple of years and will probably cost more in the future - luckily the insurance will pay everything but one excess a year. If it wasn't for the insurance I'd have to get very mse indeed

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I am not saying that the service I have received at this particular vets has been poor & so not deserving of the fees they charge, quite the opposite. However, it appears they also up the fees somewhat when they know you have taken out pet insurance. Take today for example, the desk staff automatically assumed I would be claiming for the treatment on my insurance, so didn't initially print off a receipt which I needed to pay there and then. They were very surprised to hear that I wouldn't be putting a claim in as my excess is £75 and it certainly wouldn't be worth filing a claim.

If we are going to compare vets fees to other aspects of life..if you have an accident in your car which was your fault & the driver of the car you hit needs to claim on your insurance to get the repair done. The cost charged by the repair center/garage always costs a lot more than if you took the car yourself to a garage and asked for a quote to repair the car. As in the case of my mum's partner; he had reversed into the rear of a parked car & caused very minimal damage. He offered to cover the cost of the damage and asked the owner of the car if he would get a quote for the damage. The quote came back as £100, however, the owner decided to claim on my mum's partner's insurance instead & the price to fix the damage more than trebled.

I am just so disappointed with my vets as I changed to go there a few years ago because the previous vets were charging me different amounts for the same medication when my cat had diabetes.

I really don't feel that with any service, people shouldn't just simply accept what's thrown at them without questioning it. Obviously it's up to the individual whether they accept how things are or not.

krlyr

My vet are very transparent with their fees and I certainly have no experience of them charging more because I have insurance. They'll give the price of pretty much any procedure if you ask at reception or phone in, and if I claim on insurance, they send me an itemised receipt once the insurance settle the bill, showing what was charged. The fees are certainly no different to what they charged before the dogs' insurance was in place.

You get good and bad practices in any industry. Your vet may (or may not, you don't mention any examples of them doing so, just of them not printing a receipt automatically) charge clients with insurance more than clients without, like a garage may bulk out repair costs for an insurance job rather than a private job. That doesn't mean *every* vet or vet fee is unreasonable.
I certainly don't accept what's thrown at me without questioning it - hence trying other vet practices, or checking prices of procedures, asking my vet if certain things are necessary, getting a prescription and ordering certain medications online (e.g. I order the dogs' flea treatments online as the saving outweighs the prescription fee - I know my vet doesn't have the bulk buying power of the online pharmacy I use, and the money I save goes into my emergency savings for those under-excess vet bills I have to fork out for). But, like I've said, I don't feel my vets charge unreasonable amounts (even with the flea treatment, I can see why they charge what they charge, and accept that it's the best they can do - so I make the choice to order online) and I would say many other vets charge reasonable fees for the care and service they provide. I don't think they should all be tarred with the same brush - and certainly not be described with such harsh words as repulsive, for something as simple as not offering a discount to home-run rescue groups (would you deem petshops repulsive if they did not offer the same rescue a good discount on food and cat litter?)

elsien

I can only go on my own experience which is not that the vet charges more if you are insured, but that they are offering treatments according to what you can afford to pay, which isn't quite the same thing.
So when mutt got repeated urine infections my choices were a) conservative cheaper treatment with my own vet with steroids or b) potentially much more expensive referral to a specialist.
It was up to me which one I chose, and whether I went through the insurer or not - I could still have picked either option and paid the same amounts in cash. And as I always paid in cash then claimed off the insurance later, my vets practice actually had no idea during the consultation whether I would be claiming or not.
So I can honestly say in my own experience, the only difference the insurance made was that it gave a wider range of options open to me.
That may not be how it was for you, but I take as I find. Which in my own case is that insurance doesn't bump up the bills, it just gives me more choices.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I can only speak from my experience.

My cat, who passed away last August, developed diabetes in later life. Initially I panicked because I didn't understand how to manage the condition & the vet at the time was very un-sympathetic.

Whilst doing my own research into feline diabetes, I was having to purchase insulin and needles from the vets. However, every time I needed more meds/needles, the cost of the exact same medication/needles kept differing. Also, in the meantime, due to going onto forums and chatting to other diabetic cat owners, I discovered that the insulin being prescribed, wasn't really suitable for cats & was in fact insulin prescribed for dogs. There was alternatives but the vet just didn't want to prescribe it, mainly due to the fact that the company who was making the dog insulin were paying the practice to prescribed their product. I also discovered that with careful monitoring, cats can go into remission & no longer need insulin as long as their blood sugar is constantly monitored.

I discussed these issues with the vet & they just poo-pared this. The vet proceeded to still prescribe the same dose of insulin, even tho', like human diabetics, the dose depends on certain criteria, and my cat became ill as she had been over dosing on insulin. The vet told me to stop giving the insulin as it had been making my cat vomit. They did want me to re-start once symptoms had settled down, however, I had managed to get my cat into remission & for the last five or so years of her life she lived insulin free. They really didn't like the fact that I was testing her blood sugar levels at home either and they were losing a huge amount of revenue because the cost to have them check her blood sugar was ridiculous & it distressed her so much that the vet was getting incorrect readings.

I also confronted them about why I was being charged different amounts for the same prescription. They couldn't answer it.

So, I moved to the vets I am with now & they treated my cat until she died.

I am now the proud owner of a 7 year old rescue dog which has lived with me since August 2012.

However, I am disappointed that they have started to charge for follow up consultations & it's especially annoying when you attend follow up appointments that aren't necessary. The new charges just seemed to appear as well. No notifications anywhere in the surgery. It only becomes apparent when they hand you the bill.

hotcookie101

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Whilst doing my own research into feline diabetes, I was having to purchase insulin and needles from the vets. However, every time I needed more meds/needles, the cost of the exact same medication/needles kept differing. Also, in the meantime, due to going onto forums and chatting to other diabetic cat owners, I discovered that the insulin being prescribed, wasn't really suitable for cats & was in fact insulin prescribed for dogs. There was alternatives but the vet just didn't want to prescribe it, mainly due to the fact that the company who was making the dog insulin were paying the practice to prescribed their product.

I'm sorry you lost your cat.

Two points to make here.
1) Costs can vary week by week-our costs are directly linked to the costs from the wholesaler, which can change by a small amount week by week
2) Dog insulin/vets being paid. absolute RUBBISH! That makes me really angry, which is why I have had to reply to this. In the UK we have the follow "the cascade" (by law, can potentially be struck off if we don't) which means we have to use the licensed product for the pet. Caninsulin is the ONLY licensed insulin for pets (cats & dogs) in the UK at present (we also used to have Insuvet, but it stopped) so BY LAW we have to use that product in the pet unless we can show it is harmful to the pet. So it has to be our first choice. We get no money from the drug company to prescribe it. We moan about the cascade all the time, but we have to follow it. There are other insulins, which we can use, but ONLY if we have tried caninsulin and it has not worked/suited the pet. That sort of comment re vets and getting paid off makes me so mad. Seriously-it is an incredibly offensive comment to make.

~Chameleon~

elsien wrote: »

I can only go on my own experience which is not that the vet charges more if you are insured, but that they are offering treatments according to what you can afford to pay, which isn't quite the same thing.

^^^^THIS!!!

It's a common misconception that vets charge more for insured animals than otherwise. I'm not saying this never happens as I can't speak for all but certainly not in my experience.

However, if an animal is insured then it opens up a whole range of diagnostics and treatments that the owner might not otherwise be able to afford. This is why people are often asked about insurance before treatment commences and it also allows discretionary discounts to be applied in cases of uninsured animals whereby the owner might have financial difficulties. Another reason for building a good relationship with your vet