Pet insurance more costly as vets improve
Published On 4 April 2008
The cost of insuring a pet has increased over the last four decades as veterinary medicine has improved.According to the British Veterinary Association (BVA), better medication for dogs, cats and other animals is more expensive, such as treatment for cancer, so naturally insurance is more costly as well.
John Bower, practicing vet and past president of the BVA, noted that there has also been a marked improvement in diagnosis for animals, which has contributed to rising insurance costs.
He explained: "As veterinary medicine has improved and particularly diagnosis, there are far more tests available these days to find out what is wrong with the animal, as more is able to be done in the way of diagnosis and treatment, obviously costs have gone up an awful lot over the last 30 or 40 years.
"Therefore it makes sense to pay £100 or £200 a year for this very valuable medicine to make sure that if something really bad goes wrong, you are able to afford it…that's the main driving force."
According to Datamonitor, the pet insurance market grew rapidly in 2005 because of a higher level of penetration and increasing premiums.
