As the other reply mentioned, I wonder if this is just the human cost insanity infecting veterinary costs -- MRI tech could be used for humans, so the machine is absurdly expensive, and vets have to charge more to justify the cost of having a dedicated pet MRI.
True, but in my experience getting a few MRIs, the price from various imaging centers nearby varied (for the exact same MRI) from $500 to $2000.
The $2000 place is associated with a local hospital chain that is well regarded. I guess that is how they could negotiate $2000 for an MRI with insurance and the other place (that I went to) was only able to negotiate $500.
Honestly, the price for health care in the US is all funny money. I've gotten a single shot, of a very common drug, that was billed at $20k, knocked down to $10k with the "insurance discount", so my 10% co-pay ended up $1000, with insurance!
I had a surgery that was billied at $250k where the "discount" was over $150k. That $250k price is clearly not real.
And theae kinda of prices are why I'll probably never choose to live in the US. How do people live with the possibility that a freak accident could completely and permanently finacially ruin them.
The highest medical bill I've ever paid is £8.50. Of course I pay National Insurance to cover the costs of the healthcare system. But as far as I can tell that's no more expensive than what people in the US pay despite their insurance having not nearly the same coverage.
Do you sell all your assets, like realty where you live in, personal possessions, car, tickets to vacation you happen to buy beforehand? Or declaring bancrupcy is really harmless and easy?
It varies by state. There's a list at https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/bankruptcy-exemption.... Basically you can keep stuff like the house you live in, your not-flashy car, household goods, tools of your trade, a small amount of personal property (if you own, say, a nice musical instrument or some jewelry worth $2k or whatever). As a general rule, anyone rich enough to have to sell property in a bankruptcy already has health insurance.
And please don't take any of this as a defense of the current abominable US system. I lost my dad to complications of untreated diabetes because he didn't have health insurance. What I'm saying is that people who should declare bankruptcy often don't, because they think bankruptcy will ruin their life. It won't. It protects you from predatory lenders and gives you a fresh start.
> As a general rule, anyone rich enough to have to sell property in a bankruptcy already has health insurance.
Isn't the issue that health insurance often doesn't cover everything. And that it's very difficult to get health insurance at all if you have pre-existing or chronic conditions (exactly the people who need it the most).
Pets tend to be smaller than humans, so manufacturers could ensure that pet MRIs don't drag down human MRI prices by making smaller MRI machines that only work for pets. They probably do.
There are "small animal" MRI machines, which are mostly intended for research.
The bores are really small: 55mm or so is not uncommon, so a mouse would fit, but nothing much bigger. Other animals are usually scanned on a machine meant for humans (sometimes even the exact same ones, very early in the morning or late at night).
My dad, a radiologist once had patient that was so large that they couldn't fit them on a conventional CT scanner. Luckily this was a university town, so they were able to access the vet's large animal scanner.
