I think your analysis on vets fees has some merit. There's a feedback loop going on between an insurance model and a wider range if services. But also, there's alot of out and out gouging, with rampant information assymetries. The mark up on basic drugs was 12 times in our local vets. Much of it just feels like rent seeking, end stage capitalism.
Vet fees are high because many practices have been taken over by VC groups whose only existence is to make as much money as possible. Similar thing happening in dental practices. The old days of a vet actually running and owning practice are very much numbered.
Birmingham is Britain's second city but most births there are now Muslim. Non Muslims leaving the area as do not wish to be a minority in schools, council priorities etc.
Discussions on discrimination miss this....at a certain size or trajectory maybe you can't complain about discrimination.
Vet firms acquired by private equity have a tendency to oversell tests and treatments in our experience (do they have a ticklist of upsales to be made?) and a lot of people are assumed to treat a pet in the same way as a family member, spending no object.
As a vet myself you’ve got to the heart of the issue pretty neatly there.
The over anthropomorphism of companion animals in our society is certainly partly responsible for changing expectations and the cost associated with that.
A good vet should always make it clear to the pet owner of the more pragmatic, and in many cases more ethical, option.
The fundamental principle borrowed from medicine “At first do no harm” is closely followed by
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” in veterinary.
Living in France we have found vet's charges to be near half those in the UK with, if anything, a greater level of care. Having had several dogs over the past 50 years we have a pretty good idea of what a good vet looks like. Our local practice here has around 8 full time vets but we choose to see the same one all the time as he came to know our dog well and we believe he treated her as though she were his own. He is married to a vet (not in the same practice) and occasionally discussed our dog with his partner.
Typically, when blood tests are recommended, all but the most complicated are analysed in-house and results delivered 20-30 minutes later. Where human medicines are suitable and are cheaper he wrote a prescription for them, to be filled in our local pharmacy. When she suffered acute kidney failure recently (age 17) he advised that keeping her going would not be kind and we accepted his advice.
Our daughter in the UK has had starkly contrasting service from a local private equity controlled veterinary practice, rarely seeing the same vet twice and with bills that are positively eye-watering by comparison. We discussed the proposed treatments with our vet here and some procedures would be a third of the cost she has been quoted, to the point we are now considering bringing her dog here for treatment and thereby saving £000s.
Is this due to lower standards in France? I really don't think so, and the French are hardly noted for their lack of bureaucracy either. When we told our vet here about the consolidation of veterinary practices in the UK he was shocked and it seems it is at least rare in France, if indeed it exists at all.
Re 10, the Church of England DOES have a different position but this tends to get glossed over
Very true! And totally coherent to defend this.
I think your analysis on vets fees has some merit. There's a feedback loop going on between an insurance model and a wider range if services. But also, there's alot of out and out gouging, with rampant information assymetries. The mark up on basic drugs was 12 times in our local vets. Much of it just feels like rent seeking, end stage capitalism.
Vet fees are high because many practices have been taken over by VC groups whose only existence is to make as much money as possible. Similar thing happening in dental practices. The old days of a vet actually running and owning practice are very much numbered.
The size of a religion impacts rest of society.
Birmingham is Britain's second city but most births there are now Muslim. Non Muslims leaving the area as do not wish to be a minority in schools, council priorities etc.
Discussions on discrimination miss this....at a certain size or trajectory maybe you can't complain about discrimination.
Vet firms acquired by private equity have a tendency to oversell tests and treatments in our experience (do they have a ticklist of upsales to be made?) and a lot of people are assumed to treat a pet in the same way as a family member, spending no object.
As a vet myself you’ve got to the heart of the issue pretty neatly there.
The over anthropomorphism of companion animals in our society is certainly partly responsible for changing expectations and the cost associated with that.
A good vet should always make it clear to the pet owner of the more pragmatic, and in many cases more ethical, option.
The fundamental principle borrowed from medicine “At first do no harm” is closely followed by
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” in veterinary.
Living in France we have found vet's charges to be near half those in the UK with, if anything, a greater level of care. Having had several dogs over the past 50 years we have a pretty good idea of what a good vet looks like. Our local practice here has around 8 full time vets but we choose to see the same one all the time as he came to know our dog well and we believe he treated her as though she were his own. He is married to a vet (not in the same practice) and occasionally discussed our dog with his partner.
Typically, when blood tests are recommended, all but the most complicated are analysed in-house and results delivered 20-30 minutes later. Where human medicines are suitable and are cheaper he wrote a prescription for them, to be filled in our local pharmacy. When she suffered acute kidney failure recently (age 17) he advised that keeping her going would not be kind and we accepted his advice.
Our daughter in the UK has had starkly contrasting service from a local private equity controlled veterinary practice, rarely seeing the same vet twice and with bills that are positively eye-watering by comparison. We discussed the proposed treatments with our vet here and some procedures would be a third of the cost she has been quoted, to the point we are now considering bringing her dog here for treatment and thereby saving £000s.
Is this due to lower standards in France? I really don't think so, and the French are hardly noted for their lack of bureaucracy either. When we told our vet here about the consolidation of veterinary practices in the UK he was shocked and it seems it is at least rare in France, if indeed it exists at all.
The main factor in the differences you state is that in France by law only vets can own a vet practice.
The UK did away with that law in 1999 and now we are where we are.