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orlao
Forumite 1.1K posts
Hi
Further to an earlier thread when Wuno and Snowman2 kindly explained how they work out their markup on drugs and that they sometimes subsidise the cost of consultations with the profit from medication sales.....I wondered how you felt about this?
Maybe not such an issue if you have pet insurance but in a lot of cases you can run out insurance particularly for longterm conditions so while this may not affect you now it might in the future.......
Personally I prefer to pay a "realistic" consultation charge and buy the required drugs online as Felimazole for my cat is £27 inc VAT and postage online instead of £44.65 at the vets. Thats for 6 weeks supply so the annual saving is over £150!!! That's just one med for one of my four indoor pets!!!
What do you all think about this issue?
Further to an earlier thread when Wuno and Snowman2 kindly explained how they work out their markup on drugs and that they sometimes subsidise the cost of consultations with the profit from medication sales.....I wondered how you felt about this?
Maybe not such an issue if you have pet insurance but in a lot of cases you can run out insurance particularly for longterm conditions so while this may not affect you now it might in the future.......
Personally I prefer to pay a "realistic" consultation charge and buy the required drugs online as Felimazole for my cat is £27 inc VAT and postage online instead of £44.65 at the vets. Thats for 6 weeks supply so the annual saving is over £150!!! That's just one med for one of my four indoor pets!!!
What do you all think about this issue?
Should vets charge a realistic consultation and reduce drug prices 56 votes
Yes and compete with the online pharmacies
78%
44 votes
No, stay as they are and continue to use drug sales to subsidise consultation fees
19%
11 votes
Another way (Please post with your idea!)
1%
1 vote
0
This discussion has been closed.
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Replies
Having said that I do appreciate that vets are expensive for a reason, there are three different companies to choose from where I live and my vet is by far and the most expensive out of the three but as I said veterinary care is not something I'm prepared to compromise on or cut back on, they have excellent facilities and caring veterinary surgeons, nurses and receptionists.
Whilst we are on the subject of vet fees then I would urge evryone to insure their pets, I spent close to 5k on vet fees/medications in the last 4 or 5 years of my 19 year old cats' life, I don't begrudge her a penny but had she been insured then I would be almost £5000 richer!
Already my two perfectly healthy (INSURED!) kittens have racked up over £600 in vets bills not including routine neutering, vaccination, microchipping etc.
There is an interesting breakdown on my vets website on the true cost of running a veterinary surgery and why fees can appear to be expensive.
The majority of people consider that veterinary fees are expensive. It is worth considering the costs involved in running a health service.
The National Health Service (NHS) provides medical treatment to most people in the UK. This is a so-called “FREE” service to us all. In reality, the costs involved in running the NHS are massive as we all appreciate when we hear of the investment made by the Government each year and how this vast sum of money is never enough to provide all the care we expect.
In reality, the NHS is NOT free. We all pay taxes from which a large amount is used to fund our Health Care Service, (BILLIONS of pounds each year). People who are ill and require medicines are often given a prescription to obtain from a chemist. A nominal fee is charged at the chemist for the medicine. On rare occasions this prescription fee may in reality be more than the drugs are worth but MANY of the drugs are actually worth tens, hundreds or even thousands of pounds more than the cost of the prescription charge.
Unlike the NHS, veterinary practices have to fund themselves from charges made to pet owners. We are unable to gain finance from other sources and must be self-sufficient. This means that pet owners see the REAL cost of health care services, (much like patients who seek private medical treatment).
The fees we charge, be it for consultations, vaccinations, operations, medicines, etc, are not all used to pay the veterinary surgeons as most people appear to think. In reality, approximately 24 % of your bill at the veterinary surgery is used to pay the veterinary surgeons, (including the Partners, Consultants and Assistant Veterinary Surgeons). The majority of the veterinary bill is made-up of expenses including 17.5% added to ALL bills for VAT. Other expenses include paying Veterinary Nurses, Receptionists, Administration, Renting Buildings, Building Running Costs, Cleaning fees, Legal Fees, Insurance and Further Education Courses.
Profits at the end of the year are often re-invested into the practice to fund new equipment to enable us to improve the service we offer.
So when you next look at your veterinary bill, we hope that you are able to have a better understanding of why we must charge our fees to enable us to provide you with a high quality Health Service for your pet(s).
The pie-chart below gives an accurate representation of how the money we received in 2006 was spent (based on 2006 accounts).
With the rapid advance in treatments available to animals over the previous years, many more conditions are now treatable than were previously. Long stays in hospital along with advanced medical tests and possible surgery means veterinary medical expenses can reach levels that some people may find difficult to afford.
I stay away from those who have many practices as they have always been the expensive (taking the Michael) ones.
Also ones who try and sell you things (pressure sales) when you know you can go to a pet shop and buy it at a third of the price, or worse try and scare you into buying their special make of food they sell.
If anyone isn't happy with their vets price up marks then try another vet.
Sometimes you do need veterinary grade products though, buying flea/worming stuff from a pet shop or supermarket really is a false economy.
Nowadays veterinary grade items like Frontline and Drontal are available in certain pet shops (pets at home as an example) and high street chemists as they don't require a prescription they just need to be sold by a suitably qualified person but in all honesty they are still much cheaper online - I pay £16.29 (with free delivery) for 6 frontline cat spot ons from www.vetuk.co.uk versus 3 for £12.99 from Pets at Home. Two cat drontal tablets - £2.84 from vetuk versus £7.99 from Pets at Home.
Edit: I forgot to say, I click on the vetuk link to get to the vetuk site on a Cats Protection website (affiliate link) which means that vetuk donate 5% of my total order value to the Cats Protection branch so not only do I get a bargain but I get to help some needy cats too
I know it doesn't help you now, but by you highlighting the 12 month payout with your insurance issue it just shows the importance of getting a policy that covers your pet for life, not just 12 months after diagnosis.
Since when did you spend 6 years in medical school to become qualified to know if/when your dog needs any tests? :rolleyes:
Would you be as happy for your GP to continually dish out repeat prescriptions without ever checking that the medication is still appropriate and not causing damaging, possibly life-threatening, side effects?
My nice vet also sometimes waives the cost when he thinks he's seen rather too much of us on a short space of time!
Edit: refunded £515 for TV 1.5 years out of warranty - thank you Sale of Goods Act! :j