Oct2010 HOW MUCH IS YOUR PET WORTH
?
Our pets are a very important part of our family. They provide us with unconditional love and companionship, and relieve stress. But should your beloved family pet face an unexpected illness or an accident requiring a complex medical or surgical procedure, the economical realities of pet ownership may force you to put a dollar value on your pet’s life and wellbeing.
The thought of foregoing life-saving treatment due to financial constraints may be heartbreaking, but often ends up becoming reality. This painful decision would be unnecessary if your pet was insured.
Veterinary medicine has evolved from primarily an agricultural, food-animal driven profession to being majority companion animal and veterinarians have more and better therapeutic options to offer their clients. The equipment, treatment options and medications equal those used in human medicine; conditions that would have been fatal a few years ago can now be treated successfully, and this has led to increasing veterinary bills. At the same time, the emotional attachment to pets has increased dramatically, with most pets treated as part of the family, and owners wanting and expecting the very best medical care available for their companions.
Veterinary medicine is one of the few health care professions that is not financially based on insurance – unlike most medical, surgical, dental, and pharmacy cases in human medicine, veterinary patients (the owners thereof) are responsible for all costs incurred, including preventive, emergency, and disease conditions as there is no Medicare, no safety net, and no PBS. And while veterinarians aim to offer an option A, B, and C for most conditions, in real life this means that option A, while being most expensive, will typically have a very high success rate and good prognosis, while option B will be cheaper, but might not work as well, and the prognosis would be poor, and option C usually means euthanasia. For example a young, boisterous puppy may escape from the yard and be hit by a car, fracturing its leg. Option A – orthopaedic surgery to fix the fracture may come at a cost upwards from two thousand dollars. Option B – to amputate the leg, removing the source of pain, not an ideal outcome, but cheaper at around a thousand dollars. If this is still unaffordable, then unfortunately, the only humane option would be to put the puppy to sleep. With health insurance, owners would always have access to option A.
Much like car insurance or home insurance, pet health insurance helps people put a little money away now to avoid a major payout later. Numerous insurance companies are now offering to insure our pets, and some of them even offer 100% coverage of all costs incurred, with premiums starting around $30 a month. You do, however, have to make sure you read the fine print, and find out what the particular company’s exclusions are, and whether there are annual limits for certain conditions, such as tick paralysis treatment. Some companies now even pay for preventive health measures, like vaccinations and flea and tick products. In short, you get what you pay for – cheap cover may have loopholes and exclusions and cost you in the long run. Majority of veterinary surgeries are supportive of pet insurance, although they do not receive any commission or kick backs for their clients choosing it – it can simply mean the difference between being able to save a life rather than having to put another pet to sleep.
So how much is your pet worth? As with many things in life it takes an event to motivate us to act – this however may be too late for your pet. Come and have chat about different insurance options out there, all of our staff’s pets are insured here at the Old Mill Vet Surgery, so we have first-hand knowledge about insurance options for your pet and can point you in the right direction.
Veterinary medicine has evolved from primarily an agricultural, food-animal driven profession to being majority companion animal and veterinarians have more and better therapeutic options to offer their clients. The equipment, treatment options and medications equal those used in human medicine; conditions that would have been fatal a few years ago can now be treated successfully, and this has led to increasing veterinary bills. At the same time, the emotional attachment to pets has increased dramatically, with most pets treated as part of the family, and owners wanting and expecting the very best medical care available for their companions.
Veterinary medicine is one of the few health care professions that is not financially based on insurance – unlike most medical, surgical, dental, and pharmacy cases in human medicine, veterinary patients (the owners thereof) are responsible for all costs incurred, including preventive, emergency, and disease conditions as there is no Medicare, no safety net, and no PBS. And while veterinarians aim to offer an option A, B, and C for most conditions, in real life this means that option A, while being most expensive, will typically have a very high success rate and good prognosis, while option B will be cheaper, but might not work as well, and the prognosis would be poor, and option C usually means euthanasia. For example a young, boisterous puppy may escape from the yard and be hit by a car, fracturing its leg. Option A – orthopaedic surgery to fix the fracture may come at a cost upwards from two thousand dollars. Option B – to amputate the leg, removing the source of pain, not an ideal outcome, but cheaper at around a thousand dollars. If this is still unaffordable, then unfortunately, the only humane option would be to put the puppy to sleep. With health insurance, owners would always have access to option A.
Much like car insurance or home insurance, pet health insurance helps people put a little money away now to avoid a major payout later. Numerous insurance companies are now offering to insure our pets, and some of them even offer 100% coverage of all costs incurred, with premiums starting around $30 a month. You do, however, have to make sure you read the fine print, and find out what the particular company’s exclusions are, and whether there are annual limits for certain conditions, such as tick paralysis treatment. Some companies now even pay for preventive health measures, like vaccinations and flea and tick products. In short, you get what you pay for – cheap cover may have loopholes and exclusions and cost you in the long run. Majority of veterinary surgeries are supportive of pet insurance, although they do not receive any commission or kick backs for their clients choosing it – it can simply mean the difference between being able to save a life rather than having to put another pet to sleep.
So how much is your pet worth? As with many things in life it takes an event to motivate us to act – this however may be too late for your pet. Come and have chat about different insurance options out there, all of our staff’s pets are insured here at the Old Mill Vet Surgery, so we have first-hand knowledge about insurance options for your pet and can point you in the right direction.
Old Mill Veterinary Surgery: Phone 3425 2222 all hours.
