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By Bahk Eun-ji
Lee Seog-jae, a 65-year-old resident of Songpa District, Seoul, has been raising a Yorkshire terrier named Aree for 14 years. Because of her old age, Aree has been suffering from cataracts, so Lee has to take her to a vet often.
"Every time I take Aree to the vet to renew her prescription for eye medicine, I have to pay 25,000 won," Lee said. "But one day I learned that the medicine is the same kind that's used for people, and that it costs only 3,000 won to 4,000 won if a person gets a prescription from a doctor, because the medicine is covered by the national health insurance service."
Many pet owners, like Lee, have been complaining about the high costs of veterinary care and treatments. What bothers them more is that different veterinary clinics charge different fees to treat the same diseases, as there are no shared or official standards for veterinary fees.
In this situation, calls for offering state-run health insurance for pets are gaining momentum, with the number of pet owners here reaching nearly 15 million.
In one such move, various bills related to animal medical expenses have been proposed at the National Assembly, including one by Rep. Cho Jung-hoon of the minor opposition Transition Korea Party, which seeks to start a state-run insurance program to cover some treatments, with the central and local governments providing partial financial support for the insurance premiums.
Currently, some local governments, including Seoul and Namyangju in Gyeonggi Province, provide financial support for residents' purchase of dog insurance from private insurance companies, but this is the first bill proposing to have the central government cover treatment costs for pets.
Under Cho's bill, the insurance would cover basic treatments such as vaccinations, anthelmintic drugs, health checkups and spaying/neutering surgery. Thirty percent of the insurance premiums would be supported by central and local governments, and additional support would be available for recipients of the basic income and the disabled in need of companion animals.
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| Dogs and their owners visit a dog park in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, April 26. Korea Times file |
"While the number of households raising pets has been increasing rapidly, the medical expenses of animals have also become a financial burden. But less than 1 percent of pet owners have purchased insurance for their animals," Cho said.
"It is a sufficient enough issue for public debate now that around 6 million households are raising pets. Some people may oppose spending taxpayers' money on medical expenses for pets, but the government is already spending taxes on affairs that it believes require public support, such as insurance against damage to agricultural products due to natural disasters," he said.
Veterinarians also see the need for government support for veterinary expenses and the introduction of state-run insurance programs, but they say that the standardization of treatments and their costs should come first.
For any one disease, there are no common, official standards about which tests and treatments should be given. Thus, it is up to each veterinary clinic to determine the methods of testing or treatment ― such as whether to take X-rays only or conduct blood tests as well ― so this disparity in approaches results in different medical fees at different clinics, according to the Korean Veterinary Medical Association.
"A number of amendments to the Veterinary Act are currently being proposed in relation to medical expenses, but there are no clear standards for treatments," said Huh Joo-hyung, chairperson of the association.
"Therefore, there is a need to conduct a transparent survey of medical expenses and standardize treatments and tests."
The association said last month that it would carry out a study, at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, as a preliminary step to make guidelines on tests and treatments for each disease so as later to standardize them and their costs.
