Only 4% of Pets Have Insurance. Dr. Michael Bailey Explains Why.

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very expensive. That's going to make some people concerned because I said that out front. But we have to realize that in order to keep ourselves healthy, there are things we have to do to maintain our health. That expense, as far as the upfront out-of-pocket expense, can be mitigated, can be reduced. And the best ways of doing that is preventative health care. There are things that come up, whether it's catastrophic events or other unplanned diseases that we usually don't plan for because we don't know what's going to come. But the best way to handle those is to do some planning. So I've said two things. One, I said preventative health care. And that means, yes, seeing your veterinarian regularly, not saying I can cut out a veterinary visit because I don't think it's necessary at this time. But your veterinarian can catch things before they become catastrophic. Doing things like vaccinations. Yes, vaccinations are important. They do not cause autism in our pets. And they probably are the single thing that is reduced. disease in our pets and our family members than any other health care procedure so far. I'm putting it that because new things are coming along, but yet we cannot plan for everything and it can be expensive. So how do we, I said we cannot plan for everything, but then I said we should plan. How do we plan? Veterinary health insurance, one of the reasons folks are surprised about the expense. is because in many cases, they themselves have a third-party payer health insurance. They do not see the bill or they do not see the entire bill. We're only 4% of our pets in the United States. And I say 4%, it's actually less than 4% have a health plan. So you might consider if you are, if you have a pet or getting a pet, also getting a health insurance plan to help cover those expenses. If you don't want to get health insurance, then you can do other things like putting some money aside in the bank on a weekly or monthly basis, which hopefully you never have to use. But if you do have a catastrophic event, then you can dip into your pet health savings account to help pay for it.

I personally would like to see a pet every six months. That is because our pets, grow and age real rapidly. So we want to try and catch things before they get to a point where they become a problem. A minimum every 12 months. And if you're going beyond that, just imagine your pet goes from six weeks old to one year old. And in most cases, a one-year-old pet, let's even stretch it. Labradors, I tell people that Labradors and other retrievers are teenagers when they're 18 months old. So 18 and 18 kind of thing. But what I'm saying is their life is accelerated compared to ours. So we say annually for us, six months is actually reasonable for our pets.

It's a U.S. failure. There are Nordic countries and other countries in Europe where 70% of the pets are covered by health insurance. So our mindset has not gone to put this way. We'd rather put the money into today than potentially for down the road. And then I am not blind. I do have to realize that the cost of gasoline has significantly gone up and you have to figure out where you're going to get that extra money from. There are short term. which is maybe less expensive than health insurance, or wellness plans also. And talk to your veterinarian. They may set up a wellness plan with you where you pay monthly. But if you need to get in, first of all, you're on their wellness system. And they quite often will cover at least some of the more common things that can happen. So you don't have to worry about where am I going to get this extra scratch this week? You've been paying it for the last 12 months. So take advantage of it.

quite often they will have a wellness plan. And I would, you know, if you're thinking about getting a pet, if you have a pet, I would make an appointment to just sit down and talk to your veterinarian and the veterinary healthcare team about what you can do to keep costs manageable. And I'm saying it that way because once again, the routine annual things are, you can usually find those so that they're affordable to you. Do not skip vaccinations, folks. They really do keep your pets healthy. But even more, I ask people, do you know why we give pets rabies vaccines? And sorry about the phone. Preventative care is something that protects our pets. And we don't think about the fact that that protection is actually more than our pets. The protection is for our family. I ask individuals, do they know why we give pets rabies vaccines? And they say it's to protect the pet. And they're absolutely right. But actually, the primary reason we give rabies vaccines is to protect the family, to protect the people in the household, because rabies and other zoonotic diseases go back and forth. And here's the thing you have to know about rabies, which is present in the United States. If you do not catch it before clinical signs start showing, it is nearly 100% fatal. whether you are a pet or whether you are a person.

Well, it's interesting for you to say that. If you think about the number of deaths in cars have gone down because of the use of seatbelts. I ask people, would you stop using seatbelts because the number of deaths have gone down in car accidents? No, you wouldn't. The number of rabies cases has gone down. In the United States, we had two rabies deaths last year, two. But there were 53,000 around the world. Why? Because we have done such a great job of preventing rabies in our pets. But there's still rabies in the wildlife. So we still have to be vigilant because if a raccoon, for example, bites your dog and your dog is not vaccinated, your dog can develop raccoon rabies.

Well, I was stretching it a little bit there, but the concept is the same. But in this particular case, you're fully responsible for it. So you can sit down and go and look at what a pet health insurance plan would cost you, which, by the way, there are lots of them around. You'd be surprised. car insurance company probably offers something. There are major human carriers which offer pet health insurance also. So look around and see what's available, but look and see what it would cost. And if you are not sure about it, take that same amount of money and put it aside for your pet every week or every month. So instead of giving it to the insurance company, you're giving it to yourself, but act as if it's not there. It's just going in the corner. But when you need it, it's there. So it's a self-managed account. And I said health savings account, but it's really it's a personal savings account for health care.

Interestingly enough, folks have talked about should pets be covered under something because of the. Human health care benefits. It's in the talking phase. It's in Congress. It's not going to go anywhere at this time. Look out Congress. But it's just the fact that there are legislatures talking about, yes, there are positive benefits to having pets. And shouldn't we encourage this summer?

Well, you know, I don't think I would put it as cost inflation, but I started off saying, yes, healthcare is expensive. Some of my colleagues are probably going to slam me for being so blunt there, but it's a fact. Whether it's human health care or veterinary health care, it is expensive. But there's reasons why it's expensive. We have, in the United States, the most advanced medical care for humans and for pets, but it doesn't come free. Our education is highly expensive. Now, you're asking me which one is the most... likely to advance. Right now, cancer is probably the thing that we have our eyes focused on very strongly, not the most necessarily, but focused on. And part of that is because with this improved health care that we're offering pets, we also have our pets that are living longer. When I went to veterinary school, my kids say that I started practicing on dinosaurs. Cat, for example, lived 10 to 12 years. That was an average lifespan for a cat. Cats now are living to be 25 years old. And that's because of increased health care. But as we get older, and I'm putting it in that collective we, our bodies start developing more and more abnormalities. I don't even want to say diseases. And our pets are the same. As they get older, things go wrong. But cancer is one of those things which we are seeing more and more and more of. And in doing that, we also have specialists. So I'm a board-certified radiologist. We have oncologists. We have animal behaviorists. We have, of course, lots of folks have heard about veterinary surgeons, ophthalmologists. So we have basically the same health care in veterinary medicine as we do in human medicine.

Yeah, non-veterinary advice. I'm sorry, Dr. Google and the other things you see on the internet that are not coming from somebody who has a real medical degree, I'm sorry. They're leading you down, in many cases, a primrose path. And that sounds like it's self-serving, but no, it's hard for us to separate artificial intelligence. from the person who's gone through a four-year veterinary degree and has gone through multiple years following for board certification. Why? Because they have access to the same articles. But a veterinarian comes with decision-making capabilities, the abilities not just to handle that routine case, but to see when something is not routine and to make a shift. I love artificial intelligence, but folks. Do not go down the primrose path because it can lead you astray.

All three, except I want to be careful about setting standards. recommend what may be policy procedures, but it's up for each individual veterinarian or in the case of states to decide what it is they want to use or not use. So we do not regulate or enforce anything. We try to bring groups together, come to consensus, and then we put that consensus out for the profession and industry to digest and utilize.

AVMA. org, we have a wealth, a plethora of information for people to utilize. And just remember, pet care, if we talk about it, can be, yes, expensive. But actually, if we look at the benefits we get from having our furry friends with us, It is probably one of the best health care investments you'll make in your life. And I'm talking about human health care investments as well as your veterinary health care. And cost is relative. What do I mean by relative? What you get out of it is what you put into it. But if we start with preventive care, you'd be surprised at how much you can mitigate a lot of the costs that are talked about regularly in the media.

You too. Anytime you have more questions, just contact the AVMA. They'll be glad to hook you up.

Hey there, it's Jill Schlesinger. I'm launching a brand new show. It's called Money Moves. Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts.