How much??!
So I am going to start with a controversial statement: vet bills can be expensive.
However, I don’t mean that they are unnecessarily expensive, or that vets are charging over and above what is reasonable; I mean that healthcare, whether human or animal, is an expensive business. We are talking intensive hours worked by highly trained professionals (AI will not be replacing vets and vet nurses any time soon), highly sophisticated technical equipment and overheads such as energy prices and imported consumables, the costs of which have all risen far higher than inflation and relative income.
Recently with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation, the subject of vet bills has been in the news again. This is always an emotive subject, and has driven a lot of ill-informed and harmful comments towards dedicated veterinary professionals. If you’d like to delve a little deeper into what healthcare costs, I suggest you start with looking at what human healthcare actually costs – https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/key-facts-figures-nhs and then reflect on the fact that veterinary businesses are ‘private’ healthcare businesses with none of the economies of scale or government subsidies the NHS enjoys. The fact that the CMA remedies involved increasing transparency, rather than price restrictions, demonstrates they found no evidence of profiteering, even from the ‘big corporates’.
Have you done your research ?!
So as we’ve established, as veterinary treatments and procedures become ever more sophisticated, the associated fees can be expensive – but that is a cost that must be factored in when you purchase a pet.
It has been said that pet owners spend more time researching a kitchen appliance before purchasing, than they do researching a pet. This makes me very upset. I have seen many owners spending several thousands on a particular breed of dog but unable to afford a necessary treatment a few months later – this cannot be reasonable surely? What other item would you purchase for over 4 figures without getting insurance for it, let alone a living breathing animal? As well as the moral obligation to care for the animal you choose to own, there is also the legal aspect: the Animal Welfare Act 2006 states that an animal keeper must provide for its basic needs, and this includes healthcare.
So: unless you have a lot of cash you can access instantly, insurance is a must in my view. However there is also much confusion about the many policies out there, so how do you know what to go for?
Choosing the right insurance policy for your pet
As most of us are familiar with searching for the best car insurance policy year on year, often using comparison sites, purchasing an annual policy can seem a more affordable option. However this is never something I would recommend for pet insurance, as it often leaves people without cover when they need it. When an annual policy comes to an end you will need to purchase a new one, and any previous conditions your pet has had (whether you have claimed for them or not) will be designated as ‘pre-existing’ and not covered in a new policy – a potential disaster if your pet has been diagnosed with an ongoing condition such as arthritis, diabetes or allergies.
As with other types of insurance there is always an excess to pay when you claim, and as well as a fixed amount there is often a percentage of the claimed amount added on when animals become ‘senior’ (usually over 8 years old).
Policies may come with a ‘condition limit’ (maximum amount payable per condition) or an ‘annual limit’ (maximum amount payable per year). To choose well you need to be aware of what emergency or ongoing treatments may cost, for example, intensive care over a bank holiday weekend could easily cost £5000 at the time of writing, or ongoing treatment for diabetes or arthritis a similar amount over 12 months. My standard advice is take the highest limit you can afford – I’d recommend at least £8000 for a dog (more for a large breed) and £6000 for a cat. Smaller animals don’t necessarily come with smaller costs – an MRI scan costs £2000 for a guinea pig as well as a Great Dane!
In summary...
- Pet insurance should be one of your first purchases when you obtain a pet along with food, bedding, toys, etc.
- Choose a lifetime, rather than annual policy and choose the highest cover you can afford.
- Bear in mind anything in the animal’s medical history at the time you take out cover may not be covered by your policy.
- Check what the excess level is.
- If you cannot obtain insurance for your pet, consider early on how you will fund any emergency medical treatment – in some cases it may be that euthanasia will be your only option and you need to be prepared for this.
We owe to our pets to plan for the worst and have the resources available to care for them when the worst happens.
And yes, just in case you were wondering, acupuncture and other complementary therapies are usually covered by pet insurance!!
