1
00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:05,160
Speaker 1: One in five two thousand dollars the economy, hitting every

2
00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:09,840
Speaker 1: member of the household, including the little furry four legged ones.

3
00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,560
Speaker 1: One in five pet owners carry at least two thousand

4
00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:17,599
Speaker 1: dollars in pet related debt. This is according to a

5
00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,640
Speaker 1: new study from MetLife Pet Insurance. Do you have pet

6
00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:25,960
Speaker 1: insurance for your cat or your dog? I don't know

7
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,200
Speaker 1: how I feel about that. With the price of veterinarian

8
00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:35,559
Speaker 1: care going up, maybe it makes sense, but then no,

9
00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:37,320
Speaker 1: it's just another expense up front.

10
00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:41,480
Speaker 2: Well, this is being driven by two things. Massive increases

11
00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,760
Speaker 2: in the price of veterinarian care right now, and what's

12
00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,120
Speaker 2: driving that is the fact that more and more veterinary

13
00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,160
Speaker 2: operations are owned by private equity. So the price of

14
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,280
Speaker 2: veterinary care has gone up forty percent since twenty twenty.

15
00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:59,280
Speaker 2: That's twice the rate of inflation. And in the last

16
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,760
Speaker 2: ten years. Ten years ago, ten percent of vets were

17
00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:05,920
Speaker 2: owned by private equity, and now it's between thirty five

18
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,800
Speaker 2: and fifty percent of vets are owned by private equity.

19
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,240
Speaker 2: So it used to be you want to be a veterinarian, Okay,

20
00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,000
Speaker 2: you go to school, you get your degree, You're a veterinarian.

21
00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:16,080
Speaker 2: And then you open up your own veterinarian shop and

22
00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 2: you're kind of a mom and pop operation and you

23
00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,480
Speaker 2: run that. Well, now when somebody does that frequently, they're

24
00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,280
Speaker 2: flipping that and selling that to a private equity group

25
00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,479
Speaker 2: that may own hundreds or thousands of veterinarian care centers

26
00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,920
Speaker 2: across the country. They try and consolidate, They cut costs,

27
00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:34,440
Speaker 2: they squeeze you on price, raise the price so they

28
00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,280
Speaker 2: can make as much money and profit as possible. And

29
00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,360
Speaker 2: so with the fact that vet prices are up forty

30
00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,360
Speaker 2: percent over the last five years.

31
00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:43,360
Speaker 1: That's pretty significant.

32
00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,640
Speaker 2: It's outrageous. I mean, look, inflation's been crazy. For as

33
00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:48,840
Speaker 2: much as as you hate the fact that groceries are

34
00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:50,640
Speaker 2: up a ton in the last five years, and that

35
00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:52,800
Speaker 2: housing costs are up a lot in the last five years,

36
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:54,480
Speaker 2: and your electric bills up a lot in the last

37
00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:56,840
Speaker 2: five years, Now I got to worry about vet prices

38
00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:00,560
Speaker 2: doubling that in increases in the last five years, crushing

39
00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:01,320
Speaker 2: for a lot of people.

40
00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,520
Speaker 1: Well, and you also have not only the vet care,

41
00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,600
Speaker 1: but the specialized pet food and also general inflation and supplyes.

42
00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,560
Speaker 1: So going into debt for your dog's vet bill, that's

43
00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,720
Speaker 1: the inflation story that nobody is covering, but it's the

44
00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,919
Speaker 1: emotional one that really is affecting people because if you

45
00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:21,919
Speaker 1: you would go into debt to care for your pet,

46
00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,000
Speaker 1: if you had no choice, Yeah, you're gonna do that.

47
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:26,680
Speaker 1: You're gonna put it on your credit card if you

48
00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:27,000
Speaker 1: have to.

49
00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look at what Most pets are family pets.

50
00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:31,880
Speaker 2: So if you've got young kids at home and you've

51
00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:33,840
Speaker 2: got a dog or a cat, or maybe a couple

52
00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,960
Speaker 2: of each, they become part of the family. And don't

53
00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:38,760
Speaker 2: tell me that. You know, when your twelve year old

54
00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,000
Speaker 2: girl looks at you and says, can we afford Rover's

55
00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,680
Speaker 2: surgery so that he can still be part of this family? Yeah,

56
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,079
Speaker 2: I think the vast majority of people are going to

57
00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:50,200
Speaker 2: do whatever it takes to make sure that you don't

58
00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,399
Speaker 2: disappoint your twelve year old little girl and that Rover

59
00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,079
Speaker 2: is still going to be part of your family going forward. Yeah,

60
00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,680
Speaker 2: because of the price increases. That's why, all of a sudden,

61
00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:00,720
Speaker 2: I don't e did pet insurance even exist ten years ago.

62
00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:01,760
Speaker 2: I've only heard about it.

63
00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:02,799
Speaker 1: Seems like a newer thing.

64
00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:04,119
Speaker 2: It's a brand new thing. Yeah.

65
00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,919
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is what happens with years of printing money,

66
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,400
Speaker 1: you get hit in the you know, in the pocket

67
00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:13,360
Speaker 1: when it comes to your pet. Our veterinarian had a

68
00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,639
Speaker 1: tipping service when you checked out, Yeah, could tip the

69
00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:20,400
Speaker 1: people that helped you that getting into the tipping culture

70
00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:21,760
Speaker 1: even at the veterinarian.

71
00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:24,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a whole other issue that we're seeing in

72
00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:26,440
Speaker 2: a lot of service places where you go to pay

73
00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:28,400
Speaker 2: and it's like, would you like to tip eighteen percent,

74
00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:30,040
Speaker 2: twenty percent, twenty five percent?

75
00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:31,720
Speaker 1: Know I had to tip of the vet. No, well,

76
00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:32,959
Speaker 1: bill's already high enough.

77
00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,160
Speaker 2: It happens everywhere you go. But yeah, pet insurance is

78
00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:37,119
Speaker 2: so pervasive.

79
00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:37,400
Speaker 1: Now.

80
00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,119
Speaker 2: Our daughter owns a cat, and she's got a full

81
00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,000
Speaker 2: time job and gets benefits at that job. Her job

82
00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,440
Speaker 2: offers pet insurance as one of the best you can

83
00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,480
Speaker 2: get disability insurance and health insurance and dental insurance and

84
00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,240
Speaker 2: eye insurance, and now they offer pet insurance. And I

85
00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:57,120
Speaker 2: remember her asking me, She's like, should I get this?

86
00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,520
Speaker 2: Like what what if my cat needs this surgery costs

87
00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,560
Speaker 2: two thousand dollars? So this is this is a real issue.

88
00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,560
Speaker 2: It's happening more and more people hate insurance companies. What

89
00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:08,560
Speaker 2: are we going to see now my vet needs, my

90
00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:13,560
Speaker 2: dog needs surgery, and my vet insurance won't cover the bill. Yeah,

91
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,240
Speaker 2: I mean, we're gonna have the stay out of network,

92
00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,919
Speaker 2: the same arguments with our pet insurance that we have

93
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:19,440
Speaker 2: with our current health insurance.

94
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,760
Speaker 1: Going back to the tipping thing, though, at the veterinarian,

95
00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,640
Speaker 1: you'd be more inclined to do a tip there than

96
00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,880
Speaker 1: even at a restaurant, right, because they're caring for one

97
00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:32,000
Speaker 1: of your family members. Yeah, and you want to make

98
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:33,280
Speaker 1: sure they get good care.

99
00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,440
Speaker 2: Sure, and you don't want, you know, any potential repercussions.

100
00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:38,440
Speaker 2: Like you know, there's always the question, well what if

101
00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:40,640
Speaker 2: I don't tip, are they going to be angry at

102
00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:41,560
Speaker 2: me and maybe take.

103
00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:42,479
Speaker 1: Take it out on the dog?

104
00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,400
Speaker 2: Pet? It's it's it's it's tipping culture is out of control,

105
00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:48,760
Speaker 2: and tipping at the vet is just one example of that.

106
00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,800
Speaker 1: You're listening to ninety three WYBC, Good morning,