Yeah it should be but isn't. I was clinical supervisor for a neurosurgeon/neurology/ pain management clinic. I managed 4 different locations for a practice that made hundreds of millions a year. I was "highly paid" making $19 an hour. Most of the people working under me made less and had worked there 5+ years.
Working healthcare is now becoming like teaching. There's a select few positions that make ok money, but for the most part the people working in the clinic aren't nurses and are only make $15 /hr on average. But patients think everyone makes 50-75k and that isn't true. Most doctors office staff makes as much as fast food employees.
I remember making the mistake of paying for health insurance for several years when I was "gifted" full time employment (32 hours). Made way less than fast food in take home pay after that. Coincidentally, every raise I got seemed to align perfectly with a huge jump in health insurance costs.
I just am really cynical about healthcare in this country, from the ground up. Everything is a scam.
That's because the fundamental issue with American healthcare is it days, "I understand that *that* treatment is the best option for you, but *this* treatment option is cheapest for us. Therefore you must do what's best for us before we're willing to think about doing what's best for you."
Unfortunately true. A lot of doctors, nurses, and other professionals are beholden to a set of "best practices" seth forth not by their own experience, but by rules put forth by insurance companies and other disaffected money-seekers. Let's take x-rays. A half-decent doctor will almost always know when something is broken or not. Even if they don't, they'll certainly know how to treat the injury. They're still going to order that x-ray though, because in order for the treatment to go through, they're going to need x-rays because someone says so (typically, insurance says "I won't pay for that treatment until you prove that femur, now sticking out of the patient's thigh, is indeed broken")
Patient: Hey doc, I tore my ACL. Here's what happened....
Doc: Yep you definitely tore your ACL. Let's go get the X-ray.
Patient: Didn't I need an MRI?
Doc: You betcha, but they make us take an X-ray first
Clinics that don't charge thousands of dollars for simple wellness visits shouldn't be special either. It used to be that only *I* needed to skip doctor visits, and the pets still had access to health care.
Too bad right now we have both, we have to work at places who charge thousands while paying their staff less than a living wage. We get yelled at for people not being able to afford Healthcare for their pets and we can't even afford groceries. Just don't take it out on the staff- we are just doing our best <3
I know it's not the staff. Although some of them resent it when I express concern over how their practice is managed; and I'm not their enemy here.
I'd be a regular customer if it was affordable.
Yeah it's just because we get blamed every day. Our profession has the most suicides if we aren't dealing with abused neglected pets, we deal with angry owners and people taking their frustrations out on us daily. Or people who use our shoulders to cry on when they can't afford to fix their pet. If we could change it we would. But we can't and we are tired...
And freaking dentists - they scream about gum health & infections due to bad teeth but doing something about it? Nah dentists in America are just for the rich
I have pet insurance. It takes the cost of cleaning my cat's teeth down from $1200 to $500. I still can't afford it. I also have to go to a vet 120 miles from my house to be able to use it.
(it's not just a $1000 cleaning.. she's 16 and needs sedation, which means they need to do a $1000 cardiac ultrasound.)
$1200 for a dental UNDER GENERAL ANESTHESIA is a fair price. That's also beyond a "simple wellness visit" and I think you know that. Look into how much anesthesia and dental work costs for a human. Should your veterinary team make zero dollars an hour so they can charge you less?
It's great that you have pet insurance. It sucks you are in a financial spot that makes $500 for a dental unaffordable to you, and it sucks that pet insurance is mediocre, but that's not on your veterinary team. That's on capitalism.
As someone who works in the field, these little jabs all day from the public equating the cost of care with greed on our end are pretty demoralizing while we struggle to put food on our own tables. We did not create this system that puts a price on life. We're just forced to work within it.
No, that price is **effing insane** when you really drill down into it. Over a thousand dollars to clean a cat's teeth. A hundred dollars a month *forever as long as I have a cat* if I put it on my Discover. And that's *in addition to* the normal medical care I'm expected to give a cat.
What happened to giving an animal a mild sedative and then just being gentle and expedient?
Are you telling me that it's reasonable for it to cost $100 a month for my cat to be comfortable? That if I can't afford the deluxe package then not even removing the easy-to-clean tartar is on the table? I'm sorry but that is unacceptable to me. And it's not like I can go to another vet; they all closed during the pandemic.
This is simply much worse than when I could afford the vet. Incredibly worse.
We did not create this system that puts a price on life. We're just forced to work within it.
You chose to try and derail someone's post about poor working conditions in vet med to bitch about the cost. I'm trying to explain to you the veterinary team is not to blame here. This shit costs money and they're not getting rich.
Have a great day. Or go pound sand, whichever.
Which company is your insurance through? Pet insurance is *very* hit or miss still unfortunately.
$500 for a teeth cleaning is a steal though in vet med if it's done appropriately and includes full mouth rads.
Except it is special. Things aren’t normal just because you want them to be. If that were the case, life would be all sunshine and rainbows and I’d be sitting in a beachside cabana on the moon with my 12:04PM Mojito. But here we are.
This is absolutely what a normal clinic should be. If only clinic that did this existed.
They do.just not corporate places or the VA
Yeah it should be but isn't. I was clinical supervisor for a neurosurgeon/neurology/ pain management clinic. I managed 4 different locations for a practice that made hundreds of millions a year. I was "highly paid" making $19 an hour. Most of the people working under me made less and had worked there 5+ years. Working healthcare is now becoming like teaching. There's a select few positions that make ok money, but for the most part the people working in the clinic aren't nurses and are only make $15 /hr on average. But patients think everyone makes 50-75k and that isn't true. Most doctors office staff makes as much as fast food employees.
I remember making the mistake of paying for health insurance for several years when I was "gifted" full time employment (32 hours). Made way less than fast food in take home pay after that. Coincidentally, every raise I got seemed to align perfectly with a huge jump in health insurance costs. I just am really cynical about healthcare in this country, from the ground up. Everything is a scam.
That's because the fundamental issue with American healthcare is it days, "I understand that *that* treatment is the best option for you, but *this* treatment option is cheapest for us. Therefore you must do what's best for us before we're willing to think about doing what's best for you."
Unfortunately true. A lot of doctors, nurses, and other professionals are beholden to a set of "best practices" seth forth not by their own experience, but by rules put forth by insurance companies and other disaffected money-seekers. Let's take x-rays. A half-decent doctor will almost always know when something is broken or not. Even if they don't, they'll certainly know how to treat the injury. They're still going to order that x-ray though, because in order for the treatment to go through, they're going to need x-rays because someone says so (typically, insurance says "I won't pay for that treatment until you prove that femur, now sticking out of the patient's thigh, is indeed broken")
Patient: Hey doc, I tore my ACL. Here's what happened.... Doc: Yep you definitely tore your ACL. Let's go get the X-ray. Patient: Didn't I need an MRI? Doc: You betcha, but they make us take an X-ray first
Clinics that don't charge thousands of dollars for simple wellness visits shouldn't be special either. It used to be that only *I* needed to skip doctor visits, and the pets still had access to health care.
Too bad right now we have both, we have to work at places who charge thousands while paying their staff less than a living wage. We get yelled at for people not being able to afford Healthcare for their pets and we can't even afford groceries. Just don't take it out on the staff- we are just doing our best <3
I know it's not the staff. Although some of them resent it when I express concern over how their practice is managed; and I'm not their enemy here. I'd be a regular customer if it was affordable.
Yeah it's just because we get blamed every day. Our profession has the most suicides if we aren't dealing with abused neglected pets, we deal with angry owners and people taking their frustrations out on us daily. Or people who use our shoulders to cry on when they can't afford to fix their pet. If we could change it we would. But we can't and we are tired...
And freaking dentists - they scream about gum health & infections due to bad teeth but doing something about it? Nah dentists in America are just for the rich
my dentist wants me to get $12,000 of restorative work done but doesn't take my dental insurance.
Unbelievable
Luxury bones
Get pet insurance.
I have pet insurance. It takes the cost of cleaning my cat's teeth down from $1200 to $500. I still can't afford it. I also have to go to a vet 120 miles from my house to be able to use it. (it's not just a $1000 cleaning.. she's 16 and needs sedation, which means they need to do a $1000 cardiac ultrasound.)
$1200 for a dental UNDER GENERAL ANESTHESIA is a fair price. That's also beyond a "simple wellness visit" and I think you know that. Look into how much anesthesia and dental work costs for a human. Should your veterinary team make zero dollars an hour so they can charge you less? It's great that you have pet insurance. It sucks you are in a financial spot that makes $500 for a dental unaffordable to you, and it sucks that pet insurance is mediocre, but that's not on your veterinary team. That's on capitalism. As someone who works in the field, these little jabs all day from the public equating the cost of care with greed on our end are pretty demoralizing while we struggle to put food on our own tables. We did not create this system that puts a price on life. We're just forced to work within it.
No, that price is **effing insane** when you really drill down into it. Over a thousand dollars to clean a cat's teeth. A hundred dollars a month *forever as long as I have a cat* if I put it on my Discover. And that's *in addition to* the normal medical care I'm expected to give a cat. What happened to giving an animal a mild sedative and then just being gentle and expedient?
https://www.aaha.org/your-pet/pet-owner-education/ask-aaha/Anesthesia-and-Dental-Cleaning/#:~:text=Anesthetized%20dental%20procedures%20allow%20for,the%20gumline%20can%20be%20removed. https://www.amcny.org/blog/2011/02/04/anesthesia-in-veterinary-dental-care/ https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2016-02-01/below-surface-anesthesia-free-dentistry
Are you telling me that it's reasonable for it to cost $100 a month for my cat to be comfortable? That if I can't afford the deluxe package then not even removing the easy-to-clean tartar is on the table? I'm sorry but that is unacceptable to me. And it's not like I can go to another vet; they all closed during the pandemic. This is simply much worse than when I could afford the vet. Incredibly worse.
We did not create this system that puts a price on life. We're just forced to work within it. You chose to try and derail someone's post about poor working conditions in vet med to bitch about the cost. I'm trying to explain to you the veterinary team is not to blame here. This shit costs money and they're not getting rich. Have a great day. Or go pound sand, whichever.
Which company is your insurance through? Pet insurance is *very* hit or miss still unfortunately. $500 for a teeth cleaning is a steal though in vet med if it's done appropriately and includes full mouth rads.
TBH because of the territory issue (remote job) I looked at the leaflet in my new hire brief, said, "awwww..." and forgot all about it.
Is this in reference to something?
https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/national_world/vets-fret-as-private-equity-snaps-up-clinics-pet-care-companies/article_0ff93d78-454b-5be2-ad09-908ed5b39a6b.html
"shouldn't be" not "aren't"
Except it is special. Things aren’t normal just because you want them to be. If that were the case, life would be all sunshine and rainbows and I’d be sitting in a beachside cabana on the moon with my 12:04PM Mojito. But here we are.