Human medicine is beyond the scope of this thread, and the intelligence of anyone commenting on it...anyone (a Vet, maybe) with some real experience want to comment on the actual issue that you can charge as much or as little as you want at the expense of the owner and animal? That's really the issue, not your insecurities about human medicine.
First, I was a CNA for a decade. Helped pay my way through undergrad. Second, I was accepted to med school a decade ago, and chose not to attend for a variety of reasons. Third, my late husband was a MT. Fourth, I have experienced both the human and veterinary medical systems in half a dozen countries outside of the US. I believe all of those features mean that I can speak about medical care of both humans and animals with far more breadth and depth than the average individual.
Your basis for speaking about an entire profession is your experience with your family, and apparently your personal lack of knowledge of the human medical system in the states.
Veterinarians can NOT charge more than markets will bear. That is pretty much the definition of capitalism. At the point where there isn't a cost-benefit ratio that is reasonable to the expertise/experience/etc of the vet, the vet will refuse to provide anything more than stabilizing treatment or euthanasia. Many vets, even here, make exceptions, at cost to their businesses and theirselves. Hosptials, in human medicine, are excellent at charging absurd prices for things like adhesive bandages, aspirin, and other basic products. My last suture bill included a charge for $10 dollars for a single adhesive bandage...the kind you buy a 50 pack for $2 bucks at the pharmacy. Why? Because apparently, as you have proven, gouging people through insurance is acceptable. And as was pointed out earlier, people don't KNOW what the costs are when they have insurance.
For some reason, you are completly ignorant of the idea of competition; if I charge $600 for an OVH that uses the same techniques and materials and skill level as the doc down the street who charges $300, I will have far fewer customers. If my service makes up for it, I may be fine doing that. However, unlike human medicine, there are also false depressors; the S/N and vax clinics that serve a VERY important purpose, but do undercut costs. I have never met someone who has decent insurance and decent income go to a free clinic to wait for hours on end in uncomfortable conditions, but I know people who make 3-4x as much use S/N clinics to save a hundred bucks...but then contact the clinic I work at for pain meds....or when their dog is showing neuro signs of hypoxia due to lack of intubation and monitoring. Realisticly, technology costs. I can't afford technology if I do not pass some of that cost on to my clients. I can't provide my patients with the best chance of surviving surgery (which always has risks) without having the appropriate equipment.
If human doctors don't give away their services, earning $0 a year, why should I?
BTW- I do believe there are excellent S/N clinics and substandard ones. I have concerns with substandard ones, and the ones that are excellent often are subsidized. My point is that it is, either way, an artificial lowering of costs on a free market that affects prices, in a way that human medicine doesn't deal with.
In all of that, I am NOT saying there aren't horrible vets, just as I am not saying there aren't excellent doctors. What I am saying is that you are ignorant and foolish in your assessments. You obviously have very little knowledge of economics, vet med, human med, or insurance, as proven by a wide range of innaccurate statements.
There is a reality in all of this; some people who chose to have pets CAN NOT AFFORD pets. Some of the same people can't afford their own health care. Realisticly, without large company sponsored health care, most of us couldn't afford our own health care. If we can't afford it for ourselves, especially during recessions, there is a greater liklihood of our inability to afford it for our pets.
