The High Cost of Veterinary Care
How Did We Get Here?
As much as you love your four-legged family members, the ever-increasing costs of veterinary care may interfere with your ability to care for their health.
In March 2024, the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers was up 3.5 percent year over year. The veterinary-services category was up 9.6 percent. According to the Veterinary Medical Association, the annual expenditure on veterinary visits for households with one dog increased from $224 in 2020 to $362 in 2022. For one cat, the price jumped from $189 in 2020 to $321 in 2022.
How did we get here? The problem is multifactorial:
Along with most everything else in life, the cost of veterinary equipment and supplies has increased.
Improved diagnostic and treatment technologies come with higher price tags.
For multiple reasons (fodder for a future post), there is a shortage of veterinarians and technicians. Higher salaries are necessary to attract and keep them.
Perhaps more significant than any of these factors has been the corporatization of veterinary hospitals. According to PitchBook, between 2017 and 2022, purchases of privately owned clinics by private equity firms totaled more than $45 billion. The largest conglomerate owns over 2,000 hospitals/clinics.
What is a private equity firm? (I had to look this up myself.) Veterinarian Beth Davidow, author of The Veterinary Idealist, writes, “Private equity is money from funds and investors used to directly invest or buyout companies. These individuals or investors have money they want to grow but are looking for an alternative to stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. Private equity firms have a short-term horizon and are often looking to buy businesses, improve them with investments in needed equipment, improve their operations, and increase their net profit margin.”
The bottom line goal of a private equity firm is pleasing investors. This translates into higher consumer costs, fewer staff members to generate the same revenue, shorter appointment times, and, worst of all, pushing unnecessary procedures. This disregards the ramifications for pet owners and the psychological impact on the veterinary staff.
A study reported in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association showed that vets working in corporate practices feel more pressure than those in private practices (facility owned by the veterinarian) to generate revenue and see more clients per shift.
The changing landscape of pet health care has frayed trust in veterinarians. Guaranteed, most vets practicing today have heard, “You’re only in this for the money.”
This all feels pretty heartbreaking for me. I was fortunate to spend most of my career in what I fondly refer to as “the glory days of vet medicine.” There were no yelp reviews and the relationships between veterinarians and clients felt sacred.
I wish I could tell you there’s a happy ending, or at least an end in sight. My best advice for riding this out is to sock away money in a pet health fund every month and/or invest in good quality pet health insurance.
How the cost of veterinary care affected you and your four-legged family members? If so, how?
Well, the cost of EVERYTHING is skyrocketing ... Veterinary care is no exception. With my first heart dog, we got hit with veterinary bills in a big way. Having a savings account did us no good. For my second heart dog, the first thing I did was get health insurance. Even at that, though--at the beginning, we were paying $300/month for two dogs. In the end, I was paying $360/month for ONE dog. Still, though, that's really the only way to make sure one doesn't have to make medical decisions based on what they can afford.
I am fortunate that I am able to pay the increase in prices. What I have always marveled at is how personal my relationship has always been with my vet compared to how I feel seeing my own doctor. Generally the entire vet practice knows my dogs! We are always greeted warmly. My vets almost always take a lot of time to chat about my dog and explain things to me. I hope that doesn’t change as corporations are buying up practices! Nancy, you were the best! I feel lucky that I have a vet here in Atlanta that practices with her daughter so a small very personal office!