Vet bills?

[SO1]

5% prompt payment discount if you pay the next day after the call out.

But they do charge £18 to fill out the insurance form which I think is a bit cheeky as it is not something you can do yourself and the vets benefit massively from insured customers as they often use more diagnostics and expensive services that than perhaps uninsured customers would do. At one point when my pony was very poorly and vets not sure what it was he had a wide range of tests as in the end I just said test him for everything, turned out he had a very extreme reaction to tapeworms. The whole herd was infested with tapeworms but he was the only one who collapsed on the floor, had really bad breathing and had weight loss. I thought he was either having a heart attack or colic. Vet came was not colic as he was up and normal when she arrived but said his heart was raised. His breathing was presumed to be allergies.

If I was not insured he may have ended retired as they first thought he had a heart condition, scan and 24 hour ECG was 3k. Turned out very healthy heart which was only raised when a vet walked past. Then he was scoped as his breathing was bad presumed allergies but hospital vet was not convinced. It was only when I said test everything they found he had tapeworms. They could not quite believe tapeworms were causing so much trouble and he was referred to a parasite specialis.

Tapeworms were treated and he returned to normal within days. His breathing allergies were probably linked repeated tapeworm infections as not all liveries wormed at my old yard or did testing at my old yard due to wanting to save money. Despite my best efforts he kept getting reinfestations but at least with the regular tests I could pick them up quickly in the end he was having 4 tape wormers a year. Vet recommended I move him from DIY to a part livery yard where they did poo picking and had a controlled worming program in place rather than everyone doing their own thing. In the end I did move as after another horse died due to sycamore poisoning in the field.

 

[Kat]

My vet offers a discount if you pay within 24 hrs rather than waiting for them to invoice you. I always take advantage of this.

 

[hollyandivy123]

My vet offers a discount if you pay within 24 hrs rather than waiting for them to invoice you. I always take advantage of this.

i wish mine did this would improve the money flow into the clinic as well.......

 

[milliepops]

no discounts here, but it's written on the invoice that they will charge extra if you pay late.

I'm also not sure how i could pay before getting the invoice, i never really know what it's going to be until they've totted everything up at the end of the month.

i guess the practices who offer a discount may have had issues with bad payers causing cash flow probs in the past? not sure why else you'd offer that tbh unless as an added incentive to get people to cough up quickly.

 

[Landcruiser]

No, IME the vets bills to insurance companies tend to be a little (unofficially) higher than if you tell them up front that you aren't insured. That is possibly why they are prepared to wait.

That is untrue. You have the option for further treatment and investigation if you have insurance - but no vet raises prices for insured animals, they could be struck off for that. They are more likely to try to find savings for animals that are NOT insured.

 

[Red-1]

That is untrue. You have the option for further treatment and investigation if you have insurance - but no vet raises prices for insured animals, they could be struck off for that. They are more likely to try to find savings for animals that are NOT insured.

That is what I meant, same result!

 

[iknowmyvalue]

No discounts here, but similarly to above think there’s a late payment fee unless pre-arranged that you’ll be paying in instalments or on a certain date etc.

Any time I’ve had to claim on insurance vets have been happy for insurance to settle it directly without me paying first (which has been a godsend as I don’t really have the capital to pay any very big bills up front, hence insuring!). But then I’ve always asked for pre-authorisation from insurance for things like MRI where I know the bill is going to be hefty.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Milliepops, I pay monthly too, within 14 days of invoice. The vets don't have the time to tot up the bill and take payment on the day, they are on to their next case.

Vets may well not raise prices for procedures for insured animals, but when you are not insured it's surprising how many procedures are deemed as unlikely to add to add much to the diagnosis and can be reasonably safely not be performed. An insured horse gets the lot thrown at it.

 

[Kat]

no discounts here, but it's written on the invoice that they will charge extra if you pay late.

I'm also not sure how i could pay before getting the invoice, i never really know what it's going to be until they've totted everything up at the end of the month.

i guess the practices who offer a discount may have had issues with bad payers causing cash flow probs in the past? not sure why else you'd offer that tbh unless as an added incentive to get people to cough up quickly.

We just phone up the practice and they check what was done and tell us how much it is. Saves them drawing up an invoice and sending it out, it also improves cashflow.

Seems a good idea to me.

Whether it will continue now they have been bought out I don't know. It'll probably go the way of zone days that were recently scrapped.

 

[bouncing_ball]

We just phone up the practice and they check what was done and tell us how much it is. Saves them drawing up an invoice and sending it out, it also improves cashflow.

Seems a good idea to me.

Whether it will continue now they have been bought out I don't know. It'll probably go the way of zone days that were recently scrapped.

I like to receive the itemised invoice and check it before I pay it. I’ve had accidental additions and duplications on my invoice.

 

[milliepops]

I like to receive the itemised invoice and check it before I pay it. I’ve had accidental additions and duplications on my invoice.

Yeah mine are usually quite good but they sometimes get the zone day fees wrong so I always check too.

 

[Landcruiser]

Milliepops, I pay monthly too, within 14 days of invoice. The vets don't have the time to tot up the bill and take payment on the day, they are on to their next case.

Vets may well not raise prices for procedures for insured animals, but when you are not insured it's surprising how many procedures are deemed as unlikely to add to add much to the diagnosis and can be reasonably safely not be performed. An insured horse gets the lot thrown at it.

Yup - because owners know that the condition will be excluded after 12 months, and so want to make the most of that 12 months by getting everything done possible! I know I do, when I'm in that position

 

[Kat]

I like to receive the itemised invoice and check it before I pay it. I’ve had accidental additions and duplications on my invoice.

They send a receipt so you could query it after the event, or just make use of it for standard stuff like vaccinations.

 

[fidleyspromise]

We just phone up the practice and they check what was done and tell us how much it is. Saves them drawing up an invoice and sending it out, it also improves cashflow.

Seems a good idea to me.

Whether it will continue now they have been bought out I don't know. It'll probably go the way of zone days that were recently scrapped.

I used to like getting things paid ASAP so I would phone to see about payment but invoice was never ready so I've always had to wait for it to arrive. Sometimes it arrives a couple weeks later and once it was about 2 months later.

A previous vet took about 5 months to send my invoice out. My first vet fee and I was constantly looking out for it and worrying over how much it would be.

I do appreciate no late fees however as I had one bill I had to split in two payments this year as my horse totalled about £1,000 in fees over 3 months with about 3 different visits. (I was out of work then).