I agree with you, as people get richer they spend more on health, for themselves and their pets. But just because vet costs are increasing at a similar rate (o

I agree with you, as people get richer they spend more on health, for themselves and their pets. But just because vet costs are increasing at a similar rate (or more) than human costs doesn't mean the third party vs first party thing isn't the issue. Absolute overall human health care costs are still way higher then vet costs for similar services(1), despite the rates of increase the past few years. Also, anecdotally, some vets are going the other way. There's a vet near my house, for example, that just started weekend + holiday hours with rates the same as to their normal ones. We hadn't even gone their before, but when my dog woke up last Easter with some eye problem, we called around, found them, and got some ointment that helped. The other two options would have been: wait a day, or go into an emergency clinic that's k's of dollars. If we had pet insurance I'm sure we just would have gone in without thinking. 1: http://parkhillvet.com/2012/09/comparing-costs-of-human-vs-pet-health-care/ http://parkhillvet.com/2012/09/comparing-costs-of-human-vs-p...