WHY VET COSTS ARE ON THE RISE:
A TRANSPARENT, CARING NOTE FROM DR. LEWIS
The rising costs of veterinary health care are frustrating to not only you but to veterinarians as well. We highly encourage investing in pet health insurance to offset these rising costs! Its easy and very affordable with great coverage. We like Trupanion and ASPCA but there are many others and often some home owners policies also have plans for pets so be sure to check them out! We also accept care credit as well. I want to take this opportunity to help make folks understand why health care costs so much. It starts with vet school. The dream of healing and caring for pets is rudely disrupted by the astronomical cost of college and med school which continues to rise because each college wants to get bigger and bigger and be the best in the world boasting multi-million dollar facilities. This costs an enormous amount of money and those costs get passed on to students. The average veterinary student debt when graduating vet school is almost $200,000.00. Now factor in getting married, having children, trying to buy a house with that much debt and a very small salary, not to mention wanting to start a practice. It's overwhelming and often they sacrifice and put their personal life on hold. Students now have to seek out corporate jobs that are offering to pay down their debt in exchange for a contract. Corporate medicine dictates how you practice and you loose your ability to practice as you see fit because bonuses now are based on your productivity and not what's in the best interest of your pet! Corporate policy dictates over vaccination and over-treatment to pay for their enormity- and the vets aren't the ones making the big bucks! It's the corporate giants! That why I am practical, transparent and honest with what I recommend. A second example is a seasoned vet who has money saved up and wants to open his or her own practice. To build a brick and mortar its about $1-2 million and some change, and that's just the building and land, the cost to run such building is often hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. So many opt to go to retail space since the cost of building a clinic and maintaining them are astronomical. I am sure you have noticed that vets are popping up on every corner and this is why. Corporate consolidators are also buying up ALL private clinics that should be transitioned to the partners in the practice but not so. In a retail space your rent is often over $10,000.00 month. And that's just rent. Add in utilities, payroll, insurance, cost of goods, merchant processing charges, lab charges, equipment, remodeling a strip center to be fit for a clinic, the list is endless... and it ALSO consumes a ton of money. And where do all these costs go? To the client! There is no way to escape the business of veterinary medicine, not for the client and certainly not for the veterinarian, we can't just practice what we love, we have to take on the monster of the business entity and its incredibly difficult to maintain a business AND provide what the general public feels is affordable care WITHOUT insurance. It breaks our hearts not to be able to fix every stray that someone finds, or the senior owner who is on Medicaid and cant afford care. With millions of these situations occurring daily how on earth could we pay our bills if we give free or reduced care to all these patients? Its just not possible. If you want your loved one to be well cared for it unfortunately costs money, just as it does to care for a human family member, only you have the luxury of health care that affords that good coverage. The DIFFERENCE?? Insurance! No matter how hard vets try we will never be able to give free vet care and take care of our families, or our special needs kids who need therapy not covered by insurance, or braces, or sports, etc..., or just enjoy a decent quality of life! Everything costs money! Please understand that we have to charge fees to pay for out expenses in order to provide you with the best care possible. If you don't need anything but "shots" then your most affordable option IS the parking lot vet providing just vaccines. They have no overhead and therefore can offer very inexpensive shots. But that's all they can give you. They cannot fix your pet, they cannot heal your pet, they cannot humanely euthanize your pet or be there when it passes, they cannot control your pet's pain, it's vomiting and diarrhea, it's scratching and chronic skin and ear diseases-well they can give it an "itch shot" which will decrease the immune response you are trying to create with the vaccine and will have harmful side effects, AND, will only control itching for a few weeks. They cannot surgical remove decayed painful teeth, tumors, or the corn cob he just swallowed. They can't sew up the lacerations that your dog made when jumping through the plate glass window due to severe separation anxiety. They don't commit to excellence or to continuing their education by staying on the front lines of newly emerging information that will benefit the health and well being of your pet. Please think about this the next time you get frustrated about fees. None of us want to charge for what we do, but to practice medicine we love we have no choice. We provide honest, practical and the most up to date recommendations for our patients in the most affordable way possible. Our mobile practice offers you a one on one consultation with the doctor for as long as needed. You are not rushed in and out by a dozen different people. We finish when you are satisfied with your service. We provide extensive communications both in written form after your visit as well as being available for quick responses and further discussion as needed. We want to exceed your expectations in every facet of the visit. |
INSURANCE SUGGESTIONS & CARE CREDIT
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