• Hero Banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Buying or Selling a Practice
Hospital Design
Leadership & Personal Growth
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Technology
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Live Conferences
Conference News
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Harnessing the Power of Pet Health Insurance - Episode 6

How to recommend pet health insurance to pet owners

April 25, 2020
Sarah J. Wooten, DVM, Bash Halow, LVT, CVPM, Danielle Russ, BS, BA, AS, LVT

EP. 1: The nuts and bolts of pet health insurance
EP. 2: Pet health insurance benefits for pets and owners
EP. 3: Pet health insurance: Talking with veterinary clients
EP. 4: Pet health insurance and veterinary team mental health
EP. 5: Why get pet health insurance? A pet owner’s story
Now Viewing
EP. 6: How to recommend pet health insurance to pet owners
EP. 7: How to recommend pet health insurance to your clients
EP. 8: Promoting pet health insurance: The team approach
EP. 9: Even indoor cats should have pet health insurance
EP. 10: Talking about pet health insurance: the client viewpoint
Advertisement

Dr. Wooten: Danielle, what in your experience are the primary benefits of pet insurance for owners like Kevin?

Ms. Russ: I think just to echo everything Kevin said, it really allows you to come in and focus on providing the best care for your beloved companion, and really takes out of the equation what its going to do to your bank account or how you’re going to have to re-budget or repurpose funds that you weren't planning to do.

It’s just going to be an unexpected out-of-pocket expense and it’s just not something that we’re all easily prepared to do. Not to say that people won’t move things around or potentially take out additional line of credit to do, but that does put you in jeopardy and we certainly do not want our clients having to put themselves in financial risk in order to provide care for their beloved companions, but understand why they would do that. This is a really good avenue to have in place that, really, everybody comes out a winner.

Mr. Halow: I was so surprised when you said that you went in there angry, because knowing you, knowing your personality that’s not who you are. I always say that at vet clinics we see pet owners at their emotional worst, and I would say that most of it I think is driven by sadness and fear.We see the anger, but I think the source is fear.

Ms. Russ: Concern that you’re not going to be able to provide the care for your pet, as well as to understand what the care is to be provided. I think truthfully, we’ve come to that because we don’t even know what our own healthcare costs are. For those of us that have insurance for ourselves, we don’t really know what those costs are. In veterinary medicine we are bringing the level of diagnostics and treatment very similar, if not even above, human healthcare primarily because of the personal relationships that are still very present in veterinary practices compared to in human practices. Costs are rising in order to provide that level of care though. Ultimately this is even more reason to get this in place sooner rather than later and really accept it as a profession.

Dr. Wooten: Danielle, would you consider the clients of insured pets to be more loyal than clients that pets are not insured.

Ms. Russ: I wouldn’t necessarily use that term, because I really do believe in general that pet owners really want to do best by their pet. I do think there is a place of resistance of coming in if you do not believe that you can afford the care or that somebody’s going to judge you for the care.I still think the desire to come in and to follow the veterinarian’s recommendations is absolutely there, though there’s just that barrier.

If we can eliminate that, it really will allow us to see more of them more frequently and, ultimately, intervene sooner, which is the goal versus waiting until weeks after they’ve noticed it because they were just so concerned that they may not be able to afford it but then it comes to a precipice where they can no longer not come in. If we could have seen them earlier in that process then, ultimately, we’re probably going to extend their life expectancy and their quality of time with their companion.


Related Content:

Harnessing the Power of Pet Health Insurance
Talking about pet health insurance: the client viewpoint
Talking about pet health insurance: the client viewpoint
Even indoor cats should have pet health insurance
Even indoor cats should have pet health insurance
Promoting pet health insurance: The team approach
Promoting pet health insurance: The team approach
Advertisement

Latest News

Locoregional analgesia for pain management in veterinary medicine

Outside toxicology experts can save pets’ lives

Morris Animal Foundation funds study on environmental toxins and lymphoma

Animal biomedical device company announces new senior technical services veterinarian

View More Latest News
Advertisement