The Magic of Pets

Strangely, it is perhaps these discussions that have made it possible-necessary, in fact-for the veterinary profession to remain the best value in the field of health care. In human medicine, with a massive percentage of costs accrued within the last weeks of life, including incredibly expensive diagnostic testing and budget-busting pharmaceuticals, costs have escalated exponentially-costs that are largely invisible to those who actually receive the services.    This is not so in veterinary medicine.
Costs for care are borne directly by the ones who must make the decisions about health care. And each individual must consider the costs and the wider implications of those costs on families and loved ones. These factors have forced us to keep the costs for significantly sophisticated care to a fraction of those for similar human care. This is true even though the costs to a veterinary practitioner of providing services are higher than those for the typical family-practice physician.
While physicians can refer their patients to the local hospital for X-rays, blood work, a sonogram, surgery, and hospitalization, we veterinarians must provide those capabilities in our offices and still somehow keep the costs manageable for the clients.