Soon to be new guy

[Fraido]

Lots of vets take Care Credit now. That is now the payment plan people get - 6 months interest free. Just where I work I know we've had to eat a lot of bills of people that promised to pay back when we did do regular payment plans. There are very high costs associated with running a clinic, and it sucks, but without those things being paid, there's no more service. Vets can't afford to repeatedly eat those costs.

For exams, you pay for the doctor's time and knowledge. Veterinarians by far graduate with the highest debt to income ratio in all medical fields. That education isn't cheap, and neither are the enormous piles of debt they graduate with. They pay the same or more per credit as someone in med school, have to learn multiple species, yet their services are not considered to be worth nearly as much. For comparison, average billing charges for mechanics are close to $100/hr, but you can bet that the mechanics themselves don't make that much and they certainly didn't pay nearly as much for their education.

Businesses cost money to run, and those costs need to be paid. That's just how things work, unless you find a place that takes donations in order to provide low cost care.

Sorry. Did not mean to derail the thread...

I don't think we have Care Credit in Canada, I think there's something like it, but I can't remember what it's called. I was looking into Care Credit at one point in time and was disappointed because I couldn't use it here. The HealthSmart company my vet uses supposedly has 12 month plan with no interest, according to their website, I'll find out soon!

I just think there should be solid payment plan options, nothing that people can just disappear and stop paying, because I understand that.

Part of me wishes vets were tax funded, or whatever, haha. Probably not reasonable, though.

I can understand why costs are so high, but that doesn't make the bills any easier to pay!