>Pets are family members and their medical emergencies should be treated
>the same as any other family members medical emergencies...
 
This is absolutely true, yet veterinary hospitals do not have the same
societal obligation to provide emergency care to medically indigent
animals that hospitals have to provide care to poor humans - vet hospitals
are private businesses, unsupported by Medicare when people can't pay.
When you are poor, unless you know your veterinarian, unless you know s/he
has a policy of accepting payments, what else can you do but trust in the
resilience of your animals to respond to home care or get better on their
own?
 
I believe veterinarians should offer prepayment plans.  I believe they
should get into the business of savings accounts for animals.  It doesn't
work for me, to say my savings account at the bank is for my ferret's
future medical needs.  The money is too accessible and it goes to other
family obligations over and over again.  If I could prepay my veterinarian
for the medical emergency that might happen, there wouldn't be this
terrible uncertainty about seeking care.  If I could pay into a veterinary
account, 5,10 or 20 a month, my vet would have some money from me, s/he
would know I am good for it, s/he would see my history of payments, so
even if there wasn't enough money in the fund to cover the emergency, I
would have a good payment history...This is achievable by a person of
any income.
 
When your pet is healthy, when you keep your pet healthy through
self-education, how do you establish a good relationship with a
veterinarian?  A good working relationship is based on repeated contact -
what am I supposed to do?  Become the hypochondriacal office joke who
keeps bringing in healthy animals for unnecessary visits and chitchat?
My healthy animals don't make trade, they don't keep my vet in business;
how will s/he know me when the medical emergency finally happens?  A
prepaid account answers this dilemma.  It establishes my commitment to
my animals and reflects my respect for my veterinarian as a private
businessperson without playing any mind games or wasting anybody's time.
 
I worked in a veterinary hospital for ten years; our doctor was one who
did offer payment plans for medical emergencies-I can't tell you how many
times he got stiffed by deadbeat owners who promised to pay with tears in
their eyes.  He kept on doing it because it was part of his religion to
help the poor, not because it was a good business decision.  He thought
poor people did deserve to have pets, even when they couldn't pay for
them.  He accepted the deadbeats as part of offering care to animals and
people who did struggle to repay.  I wish I'd though of this idea when I
worked for him.
 
[BD]
[Posted in FML issue 3710]