Emergency vet is so much more straightforward than human health care.

[ketchup]

One of our dogs hurt her leg over the weekend.  After a few hours of crate rest she was still not putting any weight on it, so we called the emergency vet (holiday weekend, everywhere else was closed) and drove her in.

On the phone, they said the emergency exam was $105, and we'd probably want an X-ray which would be around an extra $300.  Sounds good.

When we got there, the receptionist asked me basic questions (age, is she spayed?, is she on any meds?) and filled out their form in about two minutes.  After waiting a few minutes, the vet checked her out, couldn't elicit a pain reaction anywhere specific on her leg, and did end up taking her in back to do the X-ray.  Turns out it wasn't broken, so they just gave us NSAIDs and muscle relaxers for her.  Bill was $360 including the meds (so a bit less than they estimated over the phone).  Paid then and there before leaving via credit card like any other transaction.

This should not have felt strange.

Compare that to my last visit to the ER (granted, six years ago).  Walk in, fill out complicated form, wait, pay $500 copay, get checked out, take an X-ray, get a prescription for something, leave.  No talk of the cost of anything.  Get mysterious non-itemized giant bill in the mail a month later.  Call to question it, then call and talk to insurance, end up paying a completely different amount via mailed check with hokey "you get 30% off for paying on time" nonsense.

Compare that even to my GF's visit a couple years ago to urgent care.  Walk in, fill out complicated form, pay nothing, do some sort of blood test, get prescription, get results of test the next day.  No talk of the cost of anything there either.  Get mysterious slightly-itemized giant bill with a bunch of deductions and insurance payouts (all fake numbers, with no apparent rhyme or reason to any of it) on it... you owe $37.  Payable online via credit card.  Fine.

I get that it can never be as straightforward due to increased liability compared to vets, but it still seems like way too much of a divide.

And in case you were curious, Willow is a few days into her meds and is doing much better, putting weight on the leg most of the time, and eager to jump around and be happy and far more active than she should be.  She'll be fine.

[ThatGuy]

Glad to hear Willow is doing better.  Of course the major reason for the difference, aside from animal vs. human, is insurance.  I've been reading about the difference paying out of pocket rather than paying with insurance makes.  Here's an article that talks about the difference.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannepinder/2017/08/09/to-save-money-on-health-costs-try-putting-away-your-insurance-card/amp/

[big_slacker]

Glad your doggo is ok!

The experience you described is what I've experienced in an EU country (Poland) in the kid ER and twice for me at the dentist. (We seem to have bad vacation luck)

Go in, get your stuff done, pay on the way out. Done.

I love my country, but we've gotten our healthcare payment system all jacked up and it's embarrassing. 

[Basenji]

I've often said the same thing after my dog has had to go to the emergency room (she likes to eat bad things). Glad your dog is fine.

Once I was about to go on a long trip and I had a minor but pressing health issue that was worrying me. No time to get a referral from my primary care provider. I simply wanted to have a specialist medical professional tell me it was ok to travel with my issue. Found a doc with an opening, walked in, stated my question, had an exam, had a nice talk with the doc, she gave me a printout of her findings for my regular doc, and I handed over my credit card. Bliss.

[diapasoun]

Glad to hear Willow is doing better.  Of course the major reason for the difference, aside from animal vs. human, is insurance.  I've been reading about the difference paying out of pocket rather than paying with insurance makes.  Here's an article that talks about the difference.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannepinder/2017/08/09/to-save-money-on-health-costs-try-putting-away-your-insurance-card/amp/

Ohhh that is a very interesting link indeed. Thank you for that.

I have another lovely story to add to this. I've had to deal with one major human healthcare cost this year (my mom had bypass surgery and I helped with some of the care and paperwork) and one major animal healthcare cost (my cat's death from sudden onset, aggressive cancer).

For my mom's bypass, the costs were completely unclear, and remain so -- I don't think my parents have ever managed to get all the insurance paperwork together to figure out what they paid in total. The only discussion of cost we got was the hospital asking us to list my parents' assets, with a very clear air of "in case we need to take all of them." We/the social worker were constantly on the phone, trying to get the insurance to agree to medically necessary expenses (like going to a transitional care facility from hospital instead of home, when my mom could barely stand even with two nurses helping her; she needed PT, badly, and was fighting off an infection). It was harrowing, not only because it was a dangerous surgery but because we didn't know if it was going to bankrupt my parents, or make it so that my dad would literally never be able to retire. We just had no clue.

For my cat's cancer, the vet did an initial examination and, based on that and xrays from the referring emergency vet, was able to provide me with an itemized list of likely costs, with a lower and upper bound; she was able to tell me what costs would be associated with different parts of the diagnosis process and with different clinical outcomes. The itemized list turned out to be highly accurate, and because I had that list, I was able to assure them that yes, they were licensed to do anything they could to improve her quality of life as she was dying, because I knew I had the money set aside for it. It meant that all I had to worry about was spending time with my cat and making the right decision for her, instead of not knowing whether or not I could afford it.

Frankly, the bedside care we got for my cat was much better than what we got for my mom, too. The vet and kitty nurses explained what was going on much better than the surgeon and human nurses explained what was going on with my mom.

[OtherJen]

Yes. I've always found dealing with vets to be so much more straightforward. One of our rabbits had to have a limb amputated last year (cancer), and the whole process was so transparent and supportive. I was given a very clear estimate of the surgical costs, complete with a line item breakdown. The post-op process was also supportive.

Contrast that with the diagnostic colonoscopy I had last year. I couldn't get a straight answer about out of pocket costs beforehand, got random bills from third-party contractors for months afterward, and ended up paying several hundred dollars more for that procedure than for the vet surgery.

[LearnTo]

And in our area unless you're dying, you can count on waiting 4-8 hours to be seen in the ER.
I doubt emergency vets would stay in business if they didn't provide service in a reasonable time.  I was very pleased the couple times in the past that I used one for the dog.  As you said, they were very straightforward with regard to cost.