Emergency Vet: Outrageous Charges

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<p>performersmom, is that different than a regular shar-pei? I ask because I just ran a quote at my pet insurance site – they had shar-pei on the list and came back with a quote of about $70/month for a year-old dog, which is high end. (A mixed or healthier breed would run more like about $30/month). </p>

<p>Have you owned more than one? I’m confused because you refer to one dog dying, and also say “my breed” is not eligible … i’m just kind of wondering why you choose a breed with those health problems. Are you doing pet rescue? Or involved in some way with breeding/showing?</p>

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<p>Calmom: the last time I did the math on pet insurance and compared it with my actual vet bills, I couldn’t see that I came out ahead at all. And that was true even when I included the lifetime charges for the standard poodle with inflammatory bowel disease ($7000). After monthly payments and deductibles, I would just about break even.</p>

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<p>I had to take my German shepherd to the ER vet hospital a month ago, after a visit to my regular vet. The total bill was $1,500 for ER evaluation, ultrasound of abdomen and heart, calling in the cardiologist (her day off), draining fluid from sac around the heart. We were there for five and a half hours. We had multiple chats with the ER doc and different vet techs. Considering how many different tests and the special procedure, I don’t think it was too much. </p>

<p>It’s a huge facility with more advanced equipment and a larger staff than a regular vet’s office. Also, all the ER vets there are board-certified in ER med, as are all the specialists there. They have several years of training beyond regular vet school.</p>

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<p>Well, my other two chinese sharpei are age 5 and age 9 and have a number of health conditions.
I ran the numbers about 7 years ago when my 9 year old and the one who has passed away were about 2- still basically healthy, just ear infections and stuff like that, genetic issues not discovered. It did not pay back then
The policies do not cover a lot of the stuff my dogs needed to get done. Same as for dmd77.</p>

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<p>$3,500 emergency/specialty clinic bill here!</p>

<p>Last Christmas, our female Maine Coon cat had a 5 day hospitalization at a veterinary specialty hospital in the “big city”, 2 hours from our home. Long story short - she had a bladder stone that caused an occlusion, her bladder distended causing back-up into the kidneys and acute kidney failure (all very rare in a cat, especially a female). The local vet did the initial lab, but felt that she needed to go out of town as they did not have overnight staff. This veterinary hospital was so nice, I would have stayed there! Our cat had a large, beautiful stainless cage lined with several plush cushions, an IV, catheter, etc. She had ultrasounds, was given medications as needed, had repeated lab tests, a 24 hour doctor on site who called twice daily, etc. This clinic also required that we leave a $1,000 deposit. We drove the 200 miles round trip every day to visit, with the exception of Christmas day. They were able to get her kidney functions studies back to normal and sent her home with a guarded prognosis. That was 9 months ago and she is curled up next to me as I type.</p>

<p>Did we set out to spend $3,500 on a “cat”?? Absolutely not! But in the urgency of the moment you just want someone to help your pet. Also, where in the emergency treatment of a beloved family pet do you say stop? Did we think the $3,500 bill was high?? Of course! Our youngest D had just returned from college for the holiday break the day before and it was her cat. If they hadn’t been able to get the kidney function studies to return to normal in a day or two, we would have stopped treatment. Our D says that her cat’s recovery was worth every penny. H and I say, yes, but she also didn’t have to pay the bill! We felt like this clinic had highly trained doctors, an incredible facility, up-to-date diagnostic equipment, all of which led to her recovery.</p>

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<p>DMD, the point is that you need to do the shopping. Not all pet insurance plans are the same. I get a discount for paying premiums annually rather than monthly – I think they would be about $30/month but I pay roughly $275 once a year for each dog. Assuming that these dogs each live to be about 15 and the premiums stay level, then that would be a little over $4000 each over their lifetimes – which would be a savings for me if the costs ran to $7000.</p>

<p>But the whole point of it is insurance. I pay well above that amount in monthly health insurance premiums for myself and haven’t been to a doctor in well over a year. (Yeah, I know, definitely due for a checkup myself) – but basically if all I wanted to do was pay for my annual checkups and routine preventive care, I wouldn’t need to have insurance. The insurance is there for me to protect against the cancer diagnosis that I hope I never get… and it’s there for the dogs so that I never have to be deciding whether I am going to put a beloved pet down vs. paying $3500 or $5000 for needed surgery and treatment. I also pay well above the amount charged for pet health insurance for car insurance, again without having had a claim of any significance for umpteen years. The whole point of insurance is to pay a reasonable premium to cover high end costs that you hope you never incur. The insurance companies stay in business because all insurance is a kind of bet – they are setting it up so that the odds will keep their net payouts significantly below their net premiums, and I am buying insurance because as an individual, I can’t afford to shoulder the full risk of the loss I am insuring against, even if the odds are that it won’t happen and I won’t need to make a claim.</p>

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<p>Added to above: what I have purchased, for $275 a year, is simply an agreement that the maximum I will ever have to pay for a pet emergency is $200. I could have opted for a smaller deductible – say $50 - but then of course my premiums would be higher. </p>

<p>I’d note that the deductible for ME (if I get sick) is $3500. That’s why I think my pet insurance is a pretty good deal.</p>

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<p>Last year, before our cat Mittens #1 died, we spent well over $2,000 to save him…no surgeries…just medications and overnight vet stays. If he had lived, it would have been ok, but paying that after he died was a bit icky…and then another $75 to have him cremated. </p>

<p>But, we knew the risks from the beginning, it was our call.</p>

<p>(I don’t even want to think how much H would spend to save our doxie’s life…that dog is so close to H…they’re best buddies.)</p>

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<p>Calmom: here’s my calculations: $1000 deductible/year + $360/year in insurance => $1360/year before I collect one penny. Over the lifetime of my dog, that’s more than $12,000. I’d much rather put the money into savings.</p>

<p>As for my health insurance, I’ve worked the numbers on that too. Over the 11 years we’ve owned the current policy, we’ve exceeded the $2000/year deductible 5 years. In those years, both DH and I had cancer treatments. If we’d instead banked the insurance payments and paid for our treatments directly, we’d have come out slightly ahead—but we would have assumed all the risks. </p>

<p>For the dogs, I’ll take the risks; for DH and myself… well, I’m thinking about it. $15,000/year for health insurance is a lot of money.</p>

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<p>At my regular vet a few weeks ago on a Friday $700. Dog was quite sick, needed x-ray to see if there was a blockage, blood work, IV and meds. Diagnosis liver disease. Vet suggested we take her to a specialist for a cat scan to which I said, not going to happen. Then vet suggested we bring her to emergency vet for the weekend so she could be watched. I said to vet, that’s not happening either. I can only imagine what that bill would be. So we took her home and nursed her ourselves. Then the next week I needed to refill the antibiotics and one other med she needed and that was $125! She is much better but needs to go and have blood work done after she is done with the antibiotic treatment. </p>

<p>Tomorrow taking our other dog for her shots. Rabies, distemper, lyme booster. Sigh. </p>

<p>My SIL cat was very sick, on a weekend naturally. Cat had pneumonia. Bill was $1300. </p>

<p>We cared for our diabetic labbie for 4 years. Many visits to vet and 60 mg of insulin twice a day for 4 years. I estimate we spent at least $15K.</p>

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<p>OK, DMD… but my point is that my policy has a $200 deductible, not a $1000 deductible. So maybe I pay $475 out in order to collect $800 or $5000 or whatever. The fact that you managed to find policies that offer a worse deal for the money is not an argument against getting insurance, it just shows that you didn’t shop for the better deal at the time you were looking. (Or maybe the plan I have wasn’t available then)</p>

<p>That’s fine, I’m not saying that you have to… but how would a policy like mine NOT be a worthwhile investment for the type of poster who complains about a $600 emergency room bill? Again, if it had been my dog, I would have paid $400 and recouped the cost a year’s premium in the one visit. </p>

<p>You have standard poodles, right? If they were young dogs they wouldn’t cost much more than mine. Obviously if they are older you’d pay higher rates, but I ran a check and overall they are not particularly expensive dogs to insure. </p>

<p>I used to have a Rottweiler and I can see that Rotty premiums are pretty high, so it depends on the dog. But maybe people should also think about that when they get new dogs – I mean, even if you don’t buy the insurance, maybe running an online quote for the intended breed might raise some concerns. If, for example, the insurance company wants to charge an arm and a leg to insure an Irish Wolfhound (and they do!) – maybe that’s not such a good choice of breed for the Wolfhound fancier after all.</p>

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<p>I would have loved to get dog insurance (my mom has it on her dog and she never has a vet bill) but we get pound dogs or rescue dogs who are older and I thought you couldn’t get insurance on older dogs.</p>

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<p>That’s true, once they are beyond a certain age you will either not be able to get the insurance or the premiums will be pretty high. But I just ran a quote from the company I use for a small mixed breed dog (what I have) based on it being 7 years old, and got a quote of about $50/month for a policy with $100 deductible. So I supposed it depends on how old. </p>

<p>I didn’t want to be in the position of promoting a private insurance company, but here’s a link to a web site that provides comparative info and customer reviews –>
[Compare</a> dog insurance - Pet Insurance Review](<a href=“http://www.petinsurancereview.com/dog.asp]Compare”>Best Pet Insurance Companies of 2023)</p>

<p>I have Pet Plan, which seems to have a very high customer satisfaction rate wherever I look. I did research the plans online and there are many web sites that provide comparative information. </p>

<p>I think you are generally better off with pound dogs because the cost to insure mixed breeds is less, especially if they are small to mid-sized.</p>

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<p>My shelter rescue kittens were not eligible for health insurance because they both battled illnesses when we adopted them. As soon as they became healthy, they became not eligible for a different reason: weight. :)</p>

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<p>Well I wouldn’t bother insuring a cat, but that’s another story entirely.</p>

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<p>Just came home from little dogs vet visit. $215 for rabies shot, distemper and blood test to check for Lyme and heartworm disease. </p>

<p>Made appt. next Monday for big dogs blood test to check liver enzyme level. Sigh.</p>

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<p>Calmom: I checked the prices for the plan that my chosen vet accepts, which is VPI. I have no desire to change vets. The $1000 deductible reduced the rate from $50/month to $32/month. Then there was a 20% co-pay as well. I just couldn’t make the numbers worked. I checked it again last month. Of course, one factor in my decision is that I know I will never give a dog chemotherapy and would be disinclined to give massive medical treatment to an older dog. I have friends who have spent $10K or more on both those things, for dogs that are well into their teens. Not something I would do.</p>

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<p>VeryHappy, two other options:

  1. Befriend a vet. :slight_smile: Or have one in the family.<br>
  2. Take a course in pet first aid, or read up about it online.
    With these two options, you can get a sense of how urgent the situation is, which might allow you to wait until normal business hours, or how to give some care that will allow you to wait a bit longer. They don’t help with things like malignant (but operable) tumors, or emergency surgery during normal working hours, unfortunately.</p>
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<p>A lot of people use VPI, but as far as I can tell it is one of the weaker plans, both in terms of cost & customer satisfaction. Again, it’s pretty easy to tell which are the better plans from the chart at [Compare</a> dog insurance - Pet Insurance Review](<a href=“http://www.petinsurancereview.com/dog.asp]Compare”>Best Pet Insurance Companies of 2023) </p>

<p>My plan doesn’t have to be “accepted” by any vet. It is set up to directly reimburse me, after submission of the bill & appropriate treatment records. Although I have never made a claim, there are close to 1000 customer reviews posted at the above site (and more on other similar sites), and customers generally report receiving reimbursement within 2 weeks of submitting the claim. (For me, that would mean that if I put something on a charge card, I’d could expect to receive the pet insurance check ahead of the time my Visa payment came due). </p>

<p>So again – same point – you have to shop around. </p>

<p>I’m trying to provide good information to others who might not know that there are a lot better options for pet insurance than the one their vet “accepts”. (The reason vets “recommend” VPI is merely that VPI markets through vets – the other plans use the internet or other advertising to market directly to the consumer). EVERY vet qualifies under my plan – I never have to worry about that issue. But my vet isn’t going to help me with the paperwork – I’ll have to fill out and submit a claim form on my own. </p>

<p>I personally feel that VPI is a significantly inferior insurance product compared to the others available. It’s market share stems from the fact that it is the oldest company. Clearly it also has enjoys the benefits that come with the fact that many consumers make the false assumption that the insurance their vet suggests is representative of the market, or their only option. But VPI’s rates are higher and its payout is significantly less, in part because it sets its own rates for various procedures rather than covering whatever the vet bills. </p>

<p>The chart I linked to above allows various sort-by options. If you sort by customer satisfaction, then VPI is among the 10 lowest ranked companies. If you sort by the cost of premiums, then it shows up higher on the ranking list, but still significantly more costly and with lower payout and fewer benefits than the plan I use. </p>

<p>So basically we are in agreement – VPI is not a particularly good option. The difference is simply that I have two dogs that I acquired more recently, when they were still late stage puppies, and I shopped the current market. My previous dog didn’t have insurance, probably simply because the options weren’t the same when I got her. She had chronic allergies and some serious health problems later in life, though fortunately for my pocketbook, the condition that caused her to go blind was untreatable, so no costs after diagnosis.</p>

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<p>As a matter of fact, DH’s cousin is a vet and we use him. He takes 50% right off the bottom line. But, he’s 45 minutes away, and this was a Saturday night. </p>

<p>I guess feeling like I paid a lot this time out is really pay-back for getting such a great deal all these years.</p>