Titans of vet industry to tackle access to care at leadership summit
At the end of September, a small group of veterinary industry leaders, mostly CEO’s and other senior level officers, will […]
Emily Brill
Posts by Emily Brill:
FDA Center for Veterinary Med. to hold 2022 public listening session, but pet food oversight not on agenda
The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) announced that registration is open for a virtual, public listening session set to […]
Trupanion flubs social media event
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 adopt first significant legislation for fast-growing pet insurance industry. Now, states must decide.
Regulators gathering at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Summer National Meeting voted to adopt the Pet Insurance Model […]
Pet insurance carrier attempt to slash coverage for vet professionals goes mostly unacknowledged as vet trade group stays mum
Last month, The Canine Review reported exclusively on a leading pet insurance carrier’s filing documents which declared veterinary professionals seeking […]
Trupanion breaks with industry–again
“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…”
Pet Insurance Model Law up for full vote at upcoming regulator meeting — again
The Pet Insurance Model Law, now three-years-in-the-making, was put to a vote today by Working Group charged with producing it, […]
Questions readers have been asking lately UPDATED April 2023
Is it true that TCR bans the use of the term “investigative journalism” ?
Yes. It’s redundant. A journalist’s job is to investigate.
The term is a product of a new phenomenon born out of digital communication or journalism by email, Tweet, etc. which is intended to distinguish actual reporting from what most ‘reporting’ is now, in the post-Internet age. Woodward and Bernstein were not “investigative journalists.” Bob Woodward was a cub reporter on the metro desk assigned to cover a local burglary, Watergate. Woodward would be the first to say – and does say – that journalism is about showing up and outworking every person around you. All journalism demands showing up and being a surrogate for your readers.
Dodo partner Petplan calls veterinary professionals “moral hazard”
Last Friday, we reported that pet health insurer Petplan — now rebranded as “Fetch by the Dodo” to reflect its new partnership with The Dodo, the animal-loving viral video blog – had started rolling out an exclusion in its policy that slashes coverage options for veterinary professionals. Now we can report that the insurer explained the move by declaring veterinary professionals a “moral hazard/fraud [risk]” in the cover letter of the filing we reported last week.
Media elites behind Dodo, NYMag, Vox stay silent as insurance partner Petplan slashes discounted coverage for vet professionals
Why Would Petplan Slash Coverage For Veterinary Professionals?
Are veterinary professionals not the people a pet insurance provider would want on its good side for client referrals? Actuary data shows that veterinary professionals tend to adopt “what we consider ‘lemons’ as their companions,” explained Margi Tooth, the President of Trupanion, a Petplan competitor which does not have the same exclusion. “What this inevitably means,” she added, “is that their pets have a higher rate of utilization that the average pet owner. There’s no conspiracy here – it’s a profession that can’t face putting a pet to sleep that could be saved – so when an owner walks in with a sick pet that they can’t afford to treat, they’re often adopted by the team in the hospital. These folks are heroes on many levels.”