Ellis Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 (edited) I was chatting on Facebook today with a friend, so no chance to talk face to face with her yet. The story I can gather so far is, Sibling 1 took her cat to the vet for a problem. No insurance. Cost $300-$400. Sibling 2 took her cat to the vet, similar problem. No insurance. $300-$400. Parents took their cat to the vet, similar problem. Insurance. $1300. I did not establish what each cat was treated for, I was only told that each cat had something similar. The mother is very upset as the vet is asking for payment up front then she can claim her insurance. Surely it is illegal to jack the price up for insurance. Sibling 1 phoned vet today to query the account but they would not speak to her as it is not her account. Has anyone experienced this before? Edit - I believe these 3 visits have been a few months apart. Edited January 3, 2013 by Ellis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumabaar Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Nope- But I have had vets do extra diagnostics to work out what a problem was faster and with better reliability because I knew that I would get the money all back from insurance. ie doing Xray and ultrasound early on instead of winging it and trying empirical treatment which I probably would have had to do if I were not insured to keep costs down. The cats may also have had similar problems but there may have been complications etc with the second cat, or other complicating factors such as concurrent disease that may have made treatment more expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 So kind of like better care for a private patient rather than a public patient, so to speak? No waiting period for tests for insurance owner. Perhaps vet was saving $ for non insured owners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danois Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 No - now would a vet know about the insurance until you hand over the form at the end? And why? Easy enough to look at itemized bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumabaar Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 (edited) So kind of like better care for a private patient rather than a public patient, so to speak? No waiting period for tests for insurance owner. Perhaps vet was saving $ for non insured owners. The vet should give the owners all the options available regardless of insurance (not saying all do). My vets are very upfront about 'must haves' and 'would likes' and tell their clients what these are and the clients can then make a decision based on what they can afford. This means that some animals dont get the must haves, let alone the would likes, others without insurance get both, others with insurance may still opt only for the must haves. Ultimately the vet can only offer what they believe is the correct information at the time they are talking to their client and then do what they are instructed. We have clients that come in and say they have X amount to spend on an animal so that is the budget that a vet has and the animal will either get better or it wont. I just know that I have been much more relaxed about doing 'would likes' knowing its covered so its easy for me to end up with a big vet bill whereas I in the past I would have probably held off a day knowing that the treatment wouldn't have changed significantly regardless of the test results. Edited January 3, 2013 by Jumabaar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 The feeling of this family is that the price is higher due to insurance. I don't have insurance so I don't know the protocol. You don't tell the vet you have insurance til after the consult? If you are a regular the vet would get to know you have insurance, surely? If I left my pet in the care of the vet they could put anything on the itemised bill & I wouldn't know if it was true or false. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumabaar Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I have told my vets upfront that I have insurance, but in most circumstances the paperwork wouldnt be filled out till the end. If they feel the vet is unethical then they can always find a new vet. However there are so many things that can add to the cost that I think it is very unfair to say that two cats that may have very different histories had a condition that was somewhat similar so should have been charged the same amount. ie a young healthy cat has to have a surgery vs a geriatric cat with renal disease- They are going to cost different amounts even if they have the same presenting condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fit for a King Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I have insurnace - my vet knows this. Because I am a registered breeder I get a discount so no price hikes here..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchnauzerMax Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 The feeling of this family is that the price is higher due to insurance. I don't have insurance so I don't know the protocol. You don't tell the vet you have insurance til after the consult? If you are a regular the vet would get to know you have insurance, surely? If I left my pet in the care of the vet they could put anything on the itemised bill & I wouldn't know if it was true or false. The (usual) procedure is you pay upfront and then get your vet to fill in a claim form afterwards which you then send in to the insurance company. Sometimes the issue of insurance comes up in conversation with the vet especially if there are treatment or diagnostic options. For example, the vet might say "We can wait and see, we can do blood work or we can put them in for observation and run lots of tests". A person might reply with "I have insurance, find out what's wrong" The other thing to consider is that similar symptoms can have different causes and hence different treatments and costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Panzer Attack! Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 We treat the dog and when it's time for payment the insurance form shows up. I find that generally people are a lot more willing to do more tests (bloods, urine etc) when the insurance company is paying for it, so that could be a factor? We certainly would not jack up the price - the client has to pay the bill before they can claim the money back! Erm and we certainly would NOT make stuff up on the bill - the veterinary board is pretty strict in regards to protocol... You said you don't know what they were treated for. How old are the cats? Did they have any pre-existing conditions? Did the third cat have a full blood panel and fluids after the (I'm guessing) surgery? Was there any extra work done? Did the cat need antibiotics? Anti-inflams? Was it hospitalised longer? After hours surgery? There are a thousand different reasons bill #3 could be higher. I guess I'm lucky that I've never had any terrible experiences with vets thus far... they've all been nice, caring about the animals, never had any surprise horror bills and never been pressured into paying for anything I didn't want. (I've only been a vet nurse for a few months so that isn't clouding my judgement yet!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 As I said in the first post this conversation was on FB. I did not ask Q's like I would have face to face. The family is angry & upset at the cost. By the sounds of it they will be querying the bill further. I have not seen a comparison of itemised bills. Or even seen a bill. I do not know what was treated. I am just going by the fact that I was told "similar' problems. As someone said there could be a lot of variables between the animals involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*kirty* Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Definitely not. We know which patients have insurance because we ask up front (so forms can be organised during consult) and we charge the same fees for everyone. The 'similat problems' could have had very different treatments - eg. UTI needing antibiotics vs urinary blockage requiring surgery, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
becks Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Things like insurance would surely be easily seen on the computer screen with the clients notes on?? A $1000 difference is quite marked for similar problems and surely the family would have discussed if the treatments had been that different to warrent such a difference in price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 It doesn't matter if the problem was exactly the same - it is treatment that determines the cost. There are often a range of treatment options for each condition (from do nothing to leaving the dog in care). These a have different costs and it is up to the client - not the vet - to decide which one goes ahead. If something happened out of hours and they had the same treatment but the mum decided to leave the cat at the emergency vet for observation and acdrip, that would account for the extra $1k right there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest donatella Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I'd hope not as not all claims are accepted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckandsteve Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I got ripped off badly when we first got our dogs my vet now is so much better and so much cheaper. The first vet was smart and knew we knew nothing so played us, our dog had ringworm ( from the pound) i think he had 6 vet visits?!?!! Maybe if you tell us where she is someone can recomend somewhere else for 2nd opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I have no experience with a vet charging more for the same service for a dog that's insured over another but I do have experience with vets who over service when they know a dog is insured . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Also there are things like type of anaesthetic that can make a difference in price. Some anaesthetics are more expensive (you don't get to choose what they use, that is up to the vet and the animal's condition), and the time in theatre may differ as well. My vet lets me know the options and their cost before they go ahead so I can decide. As someone mentioned earlier, early diagnostic tools such as blood tests, xrays etc add up too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisovar Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Unless each animal received IDENTICAL treatment, as in diagnostics, medications etc what are they basing their opinion on, simply the price? No 2 animals are the same even treatments for a similar illness may require different approaches because of the uniqueness of the patient. Way too many variables, age, history, existing conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 My understanding is that the family feels the one with insurance was charged more due to the insurance. As far as the family is concerned they do not see how the price difference occurred when the cats had similar treatment. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this. Hopefully the vet can give an explanation that satisfies the family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now