Why we need to provide affordable veterinary care

It is the dream of all good pet owners to be able to provide the care that their pets need. This not only helps in keeping pets healthy but also reduces the number of sick animals in both the community and local shelters, not to mention limiting the spread of zoonotic disease.

Unfortunately, there are barriers to veterinary care for many people. According to a study from the University of Tennessee’s Center for Applied Research and Evaluation and the Access to Veterinary Care Coalition, 28% of households reported barriers to veterinary care in the past two years, money being the biggest obstacle.

Dr. Michael Blackwell currently serves as the Director of the Program for Pet Health Equity, College of Social Work, at the University of Tennessee.

Before COVID-19, an estimated 29 million dogs and cats live in families that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, and millions more are in financially struggling middle-class households. Since the pandemic, many more families need assistance. According the US Census Bureau, one half of US households have a total annual income of less than $54,000, and more than 75% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

Now, COVID-19 is making everyone’s pennies count even more. The US jobs report for April brings news that the US has a loss of 20.6 million jobs since mid-March, resulting in an unemployment rate of 14.7%, a level not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Now more than ever, most pet owners have less in their pockets to pay for veterinary care.

The benefits of having pets have been well documented, from decreasing stress  to providing psychological support. Simply put, pets make our lives healthier and happier. But now more than ever, providing the care our pets require to keep them healthy and happy is a challenge to many.

 Families may not have funds to pay for basic veterinary care, not to mention expensive treatments. For these families, when their pets get sick, their only options may be euthanasia or surrendering their pet to a shelter, in hopes that they will receive the care they need.  Either way, the family bond is broken.

Apart from pets’ illness, many owners are unable to afford care to prevent diseases, including those that  threaten public health, such as leptospirosis.

AlignCare® is a structured subsidized healthcare system to improve access to veterinary care for underserved families. Qualified families are enrolled in AlignCare through participating social service agencies, veterinary service providers, and animal shelters, and then connected with a Veterinary Social Work Coordinator for their community. Veterinary service providers participating in the project provide incremental veterinary care (IVC), an important strategy to reduce nontreatment or euthanasia due to a treatable condition. IVC also helps to control the costs of care by a tiered therapeutic approach to patient management and dynamic use of diagnostic testing to limit non-critical procedures.

Lack of access to veterinary care is a complex societal problem with many causes. Understanding these complex and interrelated issues can help find solutions to reach underserved families with pets. Barriers to veterinary care can be mitigated, especially through determined effort and better alignment of existing resources. Providing access to veterinary care is implicitly part of the veterinary profession’s “social ethic” mandate and responsibility to support the human-animal bond.