Pet insurance blowback

Q: What happens if I offer information about pet insurance to clients and they get turned down?

"If a client is turned down, it's probably for a legitimate reason, but clients should understand upfront that you are not the insurance company," says Dr. Jeff Rothstein, MBA, president of the Progressive Pet Animal Hospitals and Management Group in Ann Arbor Mich., and a Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board member. "Occasionally my clients get rejected from third-party payment companies too, but they don't hold it against the hospital. The nice part of pet insurance is that it is independent of the hospital and clients realize this. In my experience, if they have an issue they handle it with the carrier."

If you're interested in doing more to promote pet health insurance, Dr. Rothstein recommends you do a little homework yourself first. To read up on the major companies, head to dvm360.com/insurancecompanies. Then pick two to three plans you think are a good fit for your clients as well for your clinic to work with, he says.

Dr. Rothstein and his team have a short message they share with clients on the topic: "We often tell clients, 'Pet insurance may not be perfect, but it's a good idea. Overall it provides good protection at a reasonable cost and can be very valuable in times of need and it's improving on a regular basis."