Becker Michelle, Volk Holger, Kunzmann Peter
Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover Institut für Tierhygiene, Tierschutz und Nutztierethologie (ITTN), Bischofsholer Damm 15, Gebäude 116, 30173 Hannover, Germany.
Stiftung Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover Klinik für Kleintiere, Bünteweg 9, Gebäude 280, 30559 Hannover, Germany.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Jul 4;12(13):1728. doi: 10.3390/ani12131728.
Owners often feel the cost of veterinary care is too high, as there remains a limited understanding of the cost of health care in human and veterinary medicine alike. Pet health insurance is often seen as a universal solution. However, especially for patient owners with few financial resources, both the bill at the vet and the monthly premium for pet health insurance can become a challenge.
Pet health insurance can prevent or ease many price discussions at the vet, but it does not offer a solution for patient owners with little financial means.
In order to verify for which patient owners pet health insurance can be a solution, four theoretical groups were formed depending on the patient owner's willingness to pay and his/her dispensable funds based on a theoretical model.
Dispensable funds are a factor that cannot be influenced by the veterinary surgeon. However, low dispensable funds as a result of an insufficient willingness to save (whether due to a lack of financial education or a lack of will) can be solved by pet health insurance. Willingness to pay, on the other hand, can be influenced by empathetic communication from the veterinary surgeon and thus also from pet health insurance. Nevertheless, situations remain where pet health insurance is not a solution either, because owners can neither afford the veterinary costs nor a premium for a pet health insurance.
宠物主人常常觉得兽医护理费用过高，因为无论是在人类医学还是兽医学领域，人们对医疗保健费用的理解仍然有限。宠物健康保险常常被视为一个通用的解决方案。然而，特别是对于经济资源有限的宠物主人来说，兽医账单和宠物健康保险的月保费都可能成为一项挑战。
宠物健康保险可以避免或缓解在兽医处的许多价格讨论，但对于经济能力有限的宠物主人来说，它并不能提供解决方案。
为了验证宠物健康保险对哪些宠物主人来说可以成为一种解决方案，根据一个理论模型，根据宠物主人的支付意愿和可支配资金，形成了四个理论群体。
可支配资金是兽医无法影响的一个因素。然而，由于储蓄意愿不足（无论是由于缺乏金融教育还是缺乏意愿）导致的可支配资金不足，可以通过宠物健康保险来解决。另一方面，支付意愿可以受到兽医的同理心沟通的影响，因此也可以受到宠物健康保险的影响。然而，仍然存在宠物健康保险也不是解决方案的情况，因为主人既负担不起兽医费用，也负担不起宠物健康保险的保费。
