10 ms·

I don't understand how some ( to me ) obvious anticompetitive corps seem to go unnoticed, but in this case veterinary clinics are receiving scrutiny.

missedthecue 4y ago
Probably because many of the things you consider monopolies aren't actually monopolies. Google is one such example on this board that is often accused of being a monopoly but in real terms is not.
- whimsicalism 4y ago
  Monopoly on search ads.
seeingfurther 4y ago
I am right there with you. Alden Global Capital comes to mind.
salawat 4y ago
Regulatory DDoS. Hint: if you see it, write your Congresspeople, and tell them you'd like the matter referred to DoJ/the proper regulator. Then, if you really want to make sure, submit something to the same regulator. If the red flag never gets waved, nobody even bothers/knows to look, and with the way the justice system works, there is no crime until a DA has sufficient info to start building a case there is one. Do this for both State, and Federal at a minimum. Local if such authorites exist and are not preempted.
AlotOfReading 4y ago
My partner works in this industry and in fact has friends that are affected by this merger. While the FTC can and does have the ability to do many things simultaneously, the current situation in the vet industry is dire. Corporate vets are more profitable (through price-gouging), have a virtual stranglehold on increasingly limited labor pools, and are pretty much the only ones that can afford to invest in specialty medicine like emergency clinics these days. The FTC has been taking a firmer watch over the consolidation in recent years, but the trend is very clearly towards the extinction of locally run, family-owned practices that serve the community.
- Freebytes 4y ago
  Emergency vets in many places will demand you pay $5,000 upfront (within minutes before surgery is performed) or your pet dies. Then, your pet will die anyway. It is a sad and exploitative industry.
  - markovbot 4y ago
    > It is a sad and exploitative industry. just wait till you see what they do with human healthcare in this country
    - bombcar 4y ago
      There they don't even ask, they just start treating, because they know that the emergency costs will be borne by someone.
  - AlotOfReading 4y ago
    I've found that the people actually providing veterinary healthcare are some of the biggest animal lovers you're ever going to meet. They adore animals to frankly unhealthy degrees. If even the local family-owned vet clinic is also doing something, it's usually not because they want to exploit hurt animals and exploit you, it's motivated by the necessities of the industry. In this case, non-payment is a huge issue for vets and they need to keep their doors open for everyone else that needs care. Running a specialty like emergency medicine is even more expensive and carries higher prices as a result. They don't want to deal with trying to collect after the fact. Hence, they'll usually give two options: Pay at the time of service or sign up for something like CareCredit that will pay the vet upfront and deal with the collections on the backend. Some places offer third options, but these are usually problematic or involve charities.
    - beckingz 4y ago
      Yeah, the people I know who work in veterinary healthcare love animals. Many of them end up burning out because they have to deal with so much animal death.
csours 4y ago
It's entirely possible that an FTC employee or some politician was screwed over especially badly by one of these corpo vet offices and decided to make it a personal mission. People love their pets.
- wolverine876 4y ago
  That's completely made-up! It's possible someone had a bad date with a PE executive; it's possible they are susceptible to sunstroke, spent too much time outside on a summer day, were a little woozy, and approved something that they otherwise wouldn't. Maybe they were going after PE for something else, but that fell through and they limited it to vet clinics. We can go on forever! Or maybe, they discovered a violation by the PE-owned clinics and did their job by acting on it.
Calvin02 4y ago
I think it is partly because FTC gets caught up in pursuing what the news media thinks is important and these "niche" segments aren't as newsworthy so they don't get the media's attention. There's also a sort of an unsaid quid pro quo here. News media highlights things that it thinks are important and if the FTC chairs decide to act on those, news media praises them which, in the end, helps them get the recognition that they need for their future aspirations.

missedthecue 4y ago

Probably because many of the things you consider monopolies aren't actually monopolies. Google is one such example on this board that is often accused of being a monopoly but in real terms is not.

whimsicalism 4y ago
Monopoly on search ads.

seeingfurther 4y ago

I am right there with you. Alden Global Capital comes to mind.

salawat 4y ago

Regulatory DDoS. Hint: if you see it, write your Congresspeople, and tell them you'd like the matter referred to DoJ/the proper regulator. Then, if you really want to make sure, submit something to the same regulator. If the red flag never gets waved, nobody even bothers/knows to look, and with the way the justice system works, there is no crime until a DA has sufficient info to start building a case there is one. Do this for both State, and Federal at a minimum. Local if such authorites exist and are not preempted.

AlotOfReading 4y ago

My partner works in this industry and in fact has friends that are affected by this merger. While the FTC can and does have the ability to do many things simultaneously, the current situation in the vet industry is dire. Corporate vets are more profitable (through price-gouging), have a virtual stranglehold on increasingly limited labor pools, and are pretty much the only ones that can afford to invest in specialty medicine like emergency clinics these days. The FTC has been taking a firmer watch over the consolidation in recent years, but the trend is very clearly towards the extinction of locally run, family-owned practices that serve the community.

Freebytes 4y ago
Emergency vets in many places will demand you pay $5,000 upfront (within minutes before surgery is performed) or your pet dies. Then, your pet will die anyway. It is a sad and exploitative industry.
- markovbot 4y ago
  > It is a sad and exploitative industry. just wait till you see what they do with human healthcare in this country
  - bombcar 4y ago
    There they don't even ask, they just start treating, because they know that the emergency costs will be borne by someone.
- AlotOfReading 4y ago
  I've found that the people actually providing veterinary healthcare are some of the biggest animal lovers you're ever going to meet. They adore animals to frankly unhealthy degrees. If even the local family-owned vet clinic is also doing something, it's usually not because they want to exploit hurt animals and exploit you, it's motivated by the necessities of the industry. In this case, non-payment is a huge issue for vets and they need to keep their doors open for everyone else that needs care. Running a specialty like emergency medicine is even more expensive and carries higher prices as a result. They don't want to deal with trying to collect after the fact. Hence, they'll usually give two options: Pay at the time of service or sign up for something like CareCredit that will pay the vet upfront and deal with the collections on the backend. Some places offer third options, but these are usually problematic or involve charities.
  - beckingz 4y ago
    Yeah, the people I know who work in veterinary healthcare love animals. Many of them end up burning out because they have to deal with so much animal death.

csours 4y ago

It's entirely possible that an FTC employee or some politician was screwed over especially badly by one of these corpo vet offices and decided to make it a personal mission. People love their pets.

wolverine876 4y ago
That's completely made-up! It's possible someone had a bad date with a PE executive; it's possible they are susceptible to sunstroke, spent too much time outside on a summer day, were a little woozy, and approved something that they otherwise wouldn't. Maybe they were going after PE for something else, but that fell through and they limited it to vet clinics. We can go on forever! Or maybe, they discovered a violation by the PE-owned clinics and did their job by acting on it.

Calvin02 4y ago

I think it is partly because FTC gets caught up in pursuing what the news media thinks is important and these "niche" segments aren't as newsworthy so they don't get the media's attention. There's also a sort of an unsaid quid pro quo here. News media highlights things that it thinks are important and if the FTC chairs decide to act on those, news media praises them which, in the end, helps them get the recognition that they need for their future aspirations.