University of Copenhagen Reports Findings in Veterinary Medicine (Comparing veterinarians’ attitudes to and the potential influence of pet health insurance in Austria, Denmark and the UK): Veterinary Medicine

2022 JAN 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Daily Veterinary News -- New research on Veterinary Medicine is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Frederiksberg, Denmark, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Health insurance offers many benefits to clients and veterinarians, such as the ability to perform necessary and possibly cost-intensive medical interventions without financial constraints, or to potentially prevent euthanasia based on financial challenges. However, concerns about negative consequences, such as the overuse of diagnostic tests or overtreatment, have also been raised.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Copenhagen, “Using an online questionnaire distributed via e-mail, which included a section on health insurance, we investigated the relative number of insured dogs and cats treated by Austrian, Danish and UK veterinarians (N = 636) and the attitudes of those veterinarians toward health insurance. Further, using a case vignette, we examined whether coverage by health insurance may influence treatment suggestions. Even though veterinarians in all three countries believe that health insurance reduces stress since clients’ financial resources will be less important, we found that Austrian veterinarians are more likely to agree that health insurance is unnecessary compared to Danish and UK veterinarians. Further, many raised the concern that insurance policies influence clinical decisions; and less than half supported the idea of making insurance mandatory. A majority of veterinarians in Austria and the UK thought that insurance can lead to the overuse of diagnostic tests, and in the UK a majority also thought that it can lead to overtreatment. Using case vignettes, we found that veterinarians were significantly more likely to suggest a CT scan to a client with an insured animal, in contrast to a client with stated financial limitations. Further, UK veterinarians were more likely to suggest a CT scan to a client with an insured animal, in contrast to a client without insurance. In conclusion, we found that veterinarians, in general, were in favour of health insurance, and that greater coverage may increase more cost-intensive veterinary care.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Our findings also raise a potential ethical challenge of health insurance causing differential access to clinical care for patients.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Comparing veterinarians’ attitudes to and the potential influence of pet health insurance in Austria, Denmark and the UK. Veterinary Record, 2022. Veterinary Record can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (BMJ Publishing Group - http://group.bmj.com/; Veterinary Record - http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Thomas Boker Lund, Dept. of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark. Additional authors for this research include Svenja Springer, Herwig Grimm, Annemarie T. Kristensen, Sandra A. Corr and Peter Sandoe.

Publisher contact information for the journal Veterinary Record is: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

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