Vet fees and pet insurance: is it a scam?

Nmac123

I live in north-west London with my two rescue dogs. Vet fees locally seem extraordinarily high. Other local pet owners feel the same: we are all constantly amazed by the costs. Is it a scam?
When one of my dogs cut his paw walking, the final bill (including anaesthetic and stitching, antibiotics, dressings, protective collars, dog shoes and several follow-up appointments - I suspect not all necessary), was over £1000. Recently a treatment estimate included anaesthetic costs of £350 and £162 for teeth cleaning. I was charged £25 for a bottle of pain killer (Loxicom 32 ml) available for £7.85 on line. When I asked another local vet how he justified £265 for cleaning a dog's teeth (anaesthetic extra), I received the reply 'It's the going rate'.

'Yes', you say, 'but the insurance is paying', and here lies the root of the problem. It does seem that vets' practices can charge what appear to be extortionate prices because they know the insurers are paying, and that the insurers do not object because they know that every pet owner must therefore take out a policy. The vets always seem to ramp up costs with additional (often unessential) treatments and tests.
But there is an excess for claims - £100 on my dogs' policies - and because my older dog is now nine years old I have to pay 20% of the treatment costs. An insurance policy which will cover a life-long condition (eg diabetes) is expensive: other policies have a time or financial limit for each condition, usually only discovered by reading the small print.
A quick search on line reveals substantially lower vet fees outside London and in Germany (about 50%). In comparison to the £1000 for my dog's cut paw, treatment in Germany after an attack by another dog, including surgery and anaesthetic and two nights' boarding, totalled €400. The initial consultation fee in Germany was €15: my vet in London charges £48. Vets here claim that their high fees are due to staff and practice running costs, but in London only premises rental costs might be higher. And although their practices are profit-making businesses (often owned by businessmen paying the vets a salary), it is galling and it seems slightly immoral that they might be lining their pockets at our expense.

More importantly, it's often the pets who suffer. We can't control who gets a pet and not all owners are responsible people. Free treatment is available if you are on benefits, but owners on low incomes can often afford neither the high insurance premiums nor the vets' fees. Many owners refuse to consult a vet when they know the cost will be high but still lower than their £100 policy excess.

UKTigerlily

I have read things like this before, and hopefully a Vet will chime in too, but I have heard that things like an MRI scanner can be extortionate to buy, and I guess that goes into overheads etc? Here, not all Vets have these things, one in the next village is very, VERY basic and the Vet himself lives above the practice and has been there forever.

His prices are far lower than the vet hospital with horses, operating theatres, nurses 24/7 etc

Are there any like Vets4Pets who may be a bit cheaper? It does seem a hell of a lot to me, but i'm luckily in the East Midlands so idk. My dog's dental was £222 and the most recent £257.30 and that included all, but again, a cheaper area and maybe a smaller dog?

krlyr

Firstly, as a Londoner, I'm sure you appreciate that the location does increase costs. The cost of a property in London - especially if they provide parking for customers - will be a lot higher than elsewhere. And it's not just the rent, but there will be other location-related costs - business rates, for example, and they would pay their staff a higher salary than in another location. Services like repairs and maintenance, as well as cleaning, would likely be charged at a higher cost as they're 'London rates'.

Secondly, comparing prices of a veterinary surgery to an online pharmacy is like apples and oranges. They're essentially two different businesses, with very different business plans, pricing structures, even the pricing available to them will be different. The online pharmacies have massive buying power, huge warehouses of storage, and will be located in the outskirts of towns or in much cheaper locations than London, in big, commercial warehouses - perhaps a centralised head office location.

Veterinary surgeries need to be located close to clientele, they need a property that offers offices, a reception, consulting rooms, and usually parking. Each branch will need its own set of staff, duplicating costs. They will be paying high salaries of multiple veterinary surgeons - very different payscale to a team of warehouse assistants.

Vets are a front-facing business, so money needs to be spent on being presentable - frequent cleaning and upkeep of the property, uniforms for staff, etc. whereas a warehouse will need to be kept hygienic but won't really have members of the public visiting.

Online pharmacies also have no need for expensive medical equipment, like x-ray machines, CT scanners, blood spinning equipment, microscopes, etc. Yes, a few forklifts can be costly, but again it's a very different business to compare.

I work for a company that has a side business who has access to a veterinary wholesaler. They cannot buy in the medication, at their cost price, as cheap as some of the large online pharmacies sell at! Immediately, they would be at a loss if they sold at those prices - and they still have to factor in the cost of staff creating and managing orders, of unpacking and storing the goods, of the receptioning processing and the veterinary surgeon signing off those medications. They are all costs that will add to that initial purchase price - and some of those aren't even a consideration for the online pharmacies, who expect the vet to have done the consultation and deemed the medication appropriate.

My OH works for a medical equipment company and knows the prices of some of the equipment used in veterinary surgeons - it's tens of thousands, and that's just the initial investment, there's maintenance contracts, servicing and parts that fall outside of the contract, the consumables like the x-ray dyes, there's the training of staff to use it. Those costs need to be worked into the business plan - so you're not just buying a bottle of Metacam, but part of that profit will also pay for that new machinery they buy to keep up to date, for that overnight team to keep your dog alive when it's in critical condition, and so on.

I want my vet practice to make a profit. Who would run a business that doesn't? How would they improve their service, staff and site if they made no money?

Of course, you'll get some bad vets who are in it for the money. There will be those who inflate prices for pets that are insured. You get dodgy companies in any industry - but that doesn't make the majority bad.


If you want to compare costs, compare the costs of private medical care - which is essentially what vets are providing for your pets. You may find your vet bills seem a bit fairer that way, I know I certainly do when I read how much a 10 minute consultation with a GP costs, vs. the 15-20 minutes a veterinary surgeon will spend talking to me about my dog.

UKTigerlily

Krlyr . . I just want to say thanks because you always take so much time to reply to people and are incredibly knowledgeable. So many times I think I hope you will come along as you know exactly what you're talking about; you're one poster I always take notice of because I know you know your stuff and care enough to take so much time to help us all, ty

krlyr

UKTigerlily wrote: »

Krlyr . . I just want to say thanks because you always take so much time to reply to people and are incredibly knowledgeable. So many times I think I hope you will come along as you know exactly what you're talking about; you're one poster I always take notice of because I know you know your stuff and care enough to take so much time to help us all, ty

That is so sweet! I do like to think I'm not just rambling on to myself!

questionss

The average salary of a vet with 11-15yrs experience is 48k for a standard 44hr week; good but in no way comparable to similarly experienced doctors (83k) and dentists (100k). Despite a minimum 5yr degree; vets are not in it for money.
The average salary of a qualified veterinary nurse is 20k with many on much less. For these salaries vets & nurses are expected to work long days, unsociable hours and to stay late at the drop of a hat. Childcare is extraordinarily difficult to find as most providers finish at of before 6 but most vets stay open till 7 or 8 and often work later after closing.
The average practice makes less than 10% operating profit & much of that is driven into new equipment and resources.
Yes insurance has driven up the cost of veterinary care but the main mechanism for that has been because it has allowed far better treatment. We see far fewer 3-legged pets these days; that is not because far less pets get broken legs but because far more people are able to fund superior treatment due to insurance. More people opting to treat properly means better investment in practice facilities; piped gases, anaesthetic machinery, digital X-rays.
Digital X-rays for instance prevent staff having to handle dangerous developing chemicals, allow successive images to be taken more quickly and shorten anaesthetic times for pets thus reducing risks. Digital X-ray systems start from 15000k; basic ultrasound machines are 5000k, endoscopes, inhouse laboratory tests allowing same day results. These are all things found in many, many practices at the referral level the costs for MRI/CT equipment are in another league.

sheramber

Krlyr's post says it all.

owlet

I agree with Krlyr too. You are in London where there is a premium on just about everything. Like Krlyr's OH - my daughter works for vetinary equipment company (wonder if it's the same one?) & the prices aren't cheap. My vet uses the equipment from the company she works at too and I know my fur baby is in good hands because the vets are also fantastic.

I'm in a rural location & my dog has just (3 weeks ago) had an operation under general anaesthetic to remove a cyst on her back. The total cost for the op , antibiotics given during the op, extra pain relief given during the op (to last some hours after), cone of shame & after care visit to check her over and remove the stitches was £113

I must admit I was stunned & expecting a lot more . It wasn't worth claiming on insurance because her excess is £100. So no, I don't agree that all vets hike prices because insurance is paying - mine certainly didn't!