Pet insurance ‘exploited’ by some vets

28 April 2008

Some vets carry out non-essential procedures

According to a leading insurer, some vets are performing expensive, non-essential procedures, which may be pushing up the cost of pet insurance premiums for pet owners.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Chris Price from Direct Line said the company had received claims for treatment that its consultant veterinarians considered unnecessary.

This increase in the cost of claims has caused insurers to put up pet imsurance premiums.

According to the British Veterinary Association, vets do not “milk” insurance and the high costs are due to expensive treatment.

Just under a quarter of all dog and cat owners currently hold a pet insurance plan – and that figure is constantly on the increase.

The average claim per condition has almost doubled in the past five years according to the biggest provider of pet insurance in the UK, Petplan. The average claim for a dog is £715 and £501 for a cat.

When speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Mr Price said that prices were rising because although vets were treating fewer animals, some were suggesting more expensive treatments to boost their earnings.

“What we see is a tendency to select more expensive and elegant forms of diagnosis over something more pragmatic,” said Mr Price.

“If MRI is not clinically indicated as the necessary means of diagnosis when an x-ray would have been perfectly sufficient, we do tend to question why on earth that diagnostic technique was chosen.

Nick Blaynay, president of the British Veterinary Association, agreed that pet insurance premiums were increasing but blamed the increase in costs on a number of factors. He denied vets were acting inappropriately.

“We must not milk insured clients at all. It’s an act of disgraceful professional conduct,” he said.

“The vet should always put the welfare of the animal before any other consideration. If he doesn’t, shame on him.”

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