>I keep reading things like this and am surprised that so many people
>seem to have this problem.  Am I just lucky?  I have NEVER had a vet
>who refused emergency treatment, asked me to pay up front, or held my
>animals hostage until I paid.  My vets have always totally trusted me to
>pay my bills.  When the bill is extremely large, they have even offered
>(without my even asking) to let me stretch out the payments.  I never
>do that.  I pay my bill in full before I leave the office.  I have a
>savings account for that purpose.
 
Same here all around (Heck, Vetheart even gave some emergency info free,
and then -- for payment, of course -- helped us keep Sevie alive for 7
months with her complete node block), though I must say that I have since
heard that one of the consulting hospitals in NYC which we used years ago
has now gone to having at least partial pre-payments, so I guess the next
time we need their expertise we'll just have to do that.
 
It may be that prepayment is something of a trend in response to a sad
trend of non-payments.  I don't know.
 
I did read somewhere that a truly astounding percentage of vet bills
don't get paid which really disgusts me; the number I saw was shocking.
Maybe being well known as reliable helps us get the care needed when it
is needed, but I can see where a practise which had been shorted too many
times might be leery for anyone new.  Face it, we all suffer due to the
jerks who don't pay their bills no matter how much time they are given.
(Notice here that I am not talking about people who can't produce a set
amount immediately, but those who set the stage by being deadbeats.)
 
It is a sad situation, especially since I know vets who do allow folks
to pay slowly over time, and have read of ones who will allow people to
provide labor or barter, depending on the area and the situation, to pay
a bill.  There simply usually are ways to pay a bill, even if it's not
in cash.
 
Vets have to provide entire hospitals (unlike human hospitals) and they
have a very expensive education behind them, yet they make a scant
fraction of of the income that humans' doctors make which shows that
this is a large degree a labor of love (though they also get sued less
often which has a partial impact).
 
I don't know anyone here who works for free except for the volunteer work
a lot of us do and vets do that on their time and money, too, so I guess
that there are those here who are in retail and have let customers pay
on time for an item which could not be taken home till enough was paid
toward it, or who have done repairs and then held the repaired item (like
a vehicle) till there was enough payment made, or ones who have done home
repairs who needed a down-payment because of custom-cut materials, etc.
If it were more publicly shaming to be a deadbeat these days then perhaps
there would again be more trust out there in general.
 
(Harsh words, yes, but it is possible for far too many people to live
modestly and pay their debts through cash, labor, or trade.  Now, if only
the tax structure favored the middle class and poor a bit more and the
rich a good deal less since the rich aren't going hungry or losing jobs
in this current economy that likely wouldn't hurt the debt situation,
either...)
 
Hmmmmmmm, perhaps we should take the current "Might is right and rich is
might." attitude and go to the Ancient Roman voting practise of people
having their numbers of votes according to their net worth, with each
being expected to vote, and each voter lining up as the Romans did in
lines of their economic level.  Folks would no longer feel any obligation
to "keep up with the Joneses" because everyone would know their personal
net value any time an election rolled around.  That would mean that folks
wouldn't be buying things they don't want to impress people they don't
like as that wise saying goes, would therefore save more, and could pay
their vet bills.
 
Hmmmmmmm...  ;-)
[Posted in FML issue 4054]