Neither Walmart nor Petplan/Fetch by the Dodo press officers or lawyers have responded to TCR’s requests for comment. More to follow. Related: Walmart teams up with Petplan to take the plunge into pet insurance. Can Walmart take the pet insurance market mainstream? Walmart Goes Nationwide for Pet Insurance, Leaving Its Own Partner at […]
Responding to a follow-up request for data TCR has been requesting from the U.S. Food and Dug Aministration since January 2022, FDA spokesperson Anne Norris said in an email with the Center for Veterinary Medicine Director Dr. Steven Solomon copied, “Yes, can confirm receipt. Will round back with you when we have a response.” In […]
At the end of September, a small group of veterinary industry leaders, mostly CEO’s and other senior level officers, will gather in Portland, Oregon to tackle issues surrounding access to veterinary care. The numbers they will confront are troubling. Approximately 88 million pets in American households receive minimum to zero veterinary care, according to the […]
The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) announced that registration is open for a virtual, public listening session set to occur on October 18, 2022. Like last year’s listening session, titled “Oversight of Pet Food,” members of the public are invited to sign up to make presentations during the meeting. However, this year’s program is […]
Seattle-based pet insurer Trupanion spent Labor Day weekend licking its wounds after publishing a series of posts on its social media platforms followed by what many members have written off as a non-apology apology. The result: Many pet owners – purebred dog lovers and breeders in particular – were barking mad.
Regulators gathering at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Summer National Meeting voted to adopt the Pet Insurance Model Act nearly three years after the Pet Insurance Working Group began its drafting process. “This model law establishes clear rules for the sale of pet insurance and provides important disclosures to pet owners interested in […]
Last month, The Canine Review reported exclusively on a leading pet insurance carrier’s filing documents which declared veterinary professionals seeking coverage when the provider is an employer or even “business associate” to be a “moral hazard/fraud.” The insurance company, Fetch by The Dodo also known as Petplan, was seeking regulatory approvals for policy exclusions that […]
“The rising cost of care will make it only more difficult for the average pet owner to budget for the unexpected, and veterinarians still need to raise their prices…We want to empower veterinarians to offer and practice the best medicine, removing the emotional toll of heart-wrenching decisions forced by financial constraints…”
The Pet Insurance Model Law, now three-years-in-the-making, was put to a vote today by Working Group charged with producing it, immediately followed by a vote by the full Property and Casualty Committee (C) membership. The law was adopted. “Thank you’s” were exchanged, and regulators rained confetti in the WebEx chat. For months this past winter, […]
Why should veterinarians and others care about press ethics?
If the only place where the leaders of your professional association and their staff experts paid to address all the critical issues facing the profession will discuss these issues is with a “news service” that assures them of this kind of carefully scripted platform, it becomes that much harder for policymakers, animal health professionals, students, fellow veterinarians, and those you serve to get credible, accountable information. And if all other reporters have to submit questions only to the AVMA PR office, which can then craft the organization’s official answers, this only compounds the problem.
Both Kremlin-like practices allow AVMA officials to avoid the test of putting their views to people who will ask them straight questions and report what they actually say, not what they or the organization wish, on reflection, that they had said.