>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]