I just watched your video about the high er costs and I am enraged as well.
A few years ago I called to find out an estimate for a possible C section on my Newf as she had a stuck puppy. They first said they had to see the dog to give an estimate, but when I pressed them they gave me an estimate of 2-6 K! This is highway robbery, especially since I KNOW from folks I know who have worked there that the vets there are inexperienced just out of school vets who have no business working on their own at an overnight clinic.
How can a surgery that would cost around 1-1.5K in the daytime cost 6K at night?
I ended up driving way too fast 140 miles to another vet clinic who does their own er. They got the puppy out without a c section. I doubt the local er would have been able to do that, so not only did I save my bitch from unneccesary surgery, but I saved thousands of dollars.
Besides the outrageous prices these clinics charge, I think it is criminal that they hire inexperienced vets to be on their own at an overnight clinic. To me that is malpractice.