The truth is…I’m terrified.

Since quitting my full time veterinary job almost two weeks ago, I have enjoyed the first true Christmas break in many, many years.  I have been able to slow down, rest and reflect.  It has been awesome!  I truly feel like a kid again.  

Truth be told, though….The costs of self employment are starting to freak me out in a serious way.  I knew that I would be losing my health insurance, reimbursements for all of my medical licenses and registrations, continuing education, professional liability insurance, disability insurance.  The list seems to be never ending.  Every time I tell myself, ‘Ok that’s all of it though.  I’m good now,’ another $400-800 bill pops out of NOWHERE.  When will it actually end?

These are the expenses so far:

Expense	Previous annual cost	Current annual cost
COBRA health insurance	$132	$7788
Professional Liability Insurance	0 (reimbursed)	$384
Veterinary and DEA license	0 (reimbursed)	$343
Continuing education	0 (reimbursed up to $2500)	$7000
Disability	0 (reimbursed)	$410
VIN (Info network)	0 (reimbursed)	$810
Total	$132	$17,420

Ugh.  I had never actually totaled up all of the numbers and seeing that total makes me feel a bit worse, unfortunately.  I literally just gave up over $17K in yearly benefits.  Not to mention the bonuses if our clinic did well over certain periods of time, etc.  

Breathe.  Now you can see why I am slightly terrified.  Let’s break it down with each individual cost.

1.  COBRA health insurance.  This is the same plan that I was on all of last year.  It does include  medical, dental and vision.  (I could decline the dental and vision but the cost was minimal - $396 for the year to include these).  The bulk of the cost is definitely medical.  I looked into a plan on the marketplace and found something that was comparable but had a fairly large deductible for not THAT much cheaper ($590 vs $616 monthly for medical only).  I would be willing to have a larger deductible if the cost of the plan was significantly less but $26/month less did not seem worth it to me.  I also looked into health sharing ministries like Zion or Liberty but it just seemed too risky.  I was definitely not wiling to take Mr. Money Mustache’s approach of no health insurance!  

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2020/11/09/direct-primary-care/ 

Health insurance to me is a necessity although it DOES sometimes feel like flushing over $600 a month down the toilet on a monthly basis.  I’m going to try and think of this as my freedom payment!

2.  Professional Liability Insurance (PLIT) - This is something that every medical practitioner simply has to have.  As a primarily small animal vet, $384 is not too big of a deal.  Human docs have it way, way worse!  (One source sited anywhere from $7500 to $50K/year).

3.  Veterinary and DEA license - Again, if you are going to be practicing medicine, you must have a medical license for the state in which you are practicing in.  Some relief vets practice in multiple states, which would necessitate multiple veterinary licenses.  The $343 price tag includes state licensing (approx $140 every two years) and the DEA license ($888 every three years).  The DEA is not an absolute MUST as it is only needed to prescribe and dispense controlled drugs.  I did have the thought of not renewing mine because as luck would have it, my three year license expired 10 days after my last day.  (Should I buy a lottery ticket)?! However, I really was not sure how hard it would be to get it back in the future if I DID decide I needed it so…I sucked it up and paid the $888.  

4.  Continuing education - This cost is highly variable.  In years past, I was allotted $2500/year to be reimbursed by my company.  I typically went to one of the larger conferences and used the majority of this money with conference fees, travel, etc.  This year, I spent way more on continuing education than previous years.  I took a veterinary acupuncture course that spanned about 6 months and I had to travel for two of the five modules.  My company was going to cover the entire cost but then I ended up quitting so…yeah, bummer.  They did give me the $2500 for 2021 that paid for approximately one-third of the course.  I definitely do not need to spend this amount in the future to keep up with the requirements for my state to renew my veterinary license.  There are many free and low cost options available.  

5.  Disability insurance - This is something that I have been paying since I graduated.  It’s $205 every 6 months that was previously reimbursed.  This is another cost that probably is not absolutely mandatory but it does make me feel a little better having it in place.

6.  Veterinary Information Network (VIN) - This is another optional cost but something that I use on a weekly, if not daily basis.  Having access to thousands of other veterinarians and specialists to ask quick questions/bounce ideas off of is truly something I would hate to lose.  

If decisions were based purely on monetary gain, there is no way I would have made the decision to leave this job.  To be clear, I did not HATE the job.  I enjoyed many aspects of the work.  The biggest problem was that this job had become my entire life.  I am not married and do not have any kids.  Although this brings a certain freedom…it obviously has some downsides.   Great excuse to stay as late as needed and work more, more, more!  (I needed to work on my boundaries.)  However, I was the head veterinarian.  I managed the other two associate veterinarians and worked with the office manager with anything that she needed.  Usually, this involved being a sounding board for problem staff members, setting up and mediating counseling sessions and dealing with any problem clients.  98% of my day was being a busy veterinarian and then all the problem work was squeezed into the last 2%.   I was TIRED.  

So what is the trade off?  What am I actually receiving in exchange?  

It’s all about FLEXIBILITY and FREEDOM!  (Remember my freedom payments?)

As a relief veterinarian, I choose where, when and how much I work.  I set my hourly wage and a clinic can decide to hire me or not.  If I don’t like the vibe of a clinic or anything about it, I do not have to work there past the shifts that I have already agreed upon.  If I want to walk another section of the Camino de Santiago and need to take two months off… away I go!

These are the things that I need to remind myself when I wake up with cold sweats in the middle of the night.  Because the truth is….that I actually worry about money all the time.  I worry about it when I should not worry about it.  When I have saved diligently for years and years and know that my worst case scenario is that I go back to working full time at a regular veterinary hospital OR for a pet food company OR for the USDA, etc.  I have options.  To NOT take the opportunity to take a break and ease myself back in when and if I actually want to… would be the biggest crime of all.  

Sometimes leaving something GOOD is the only way to make way for something GREAT.  The job was good.  There were good people and clients and animals.  I was paid fairly and I received great benefits.  That all came with a cost, though.  Long hours and a lot of stress.  Now, when I work at my old clinic, I know that I will definitely have some stressful cases.  However, when the shift is over, I walk away.  If I end up staying until 8 pm on a day I was supposed to leave at 5 pm, I will get paid for it.  If I am asked to make phone calls or see extra patients past the time we close, I CAN say NO.  Or I can do those things and get paid for them.    I made a choice and I am sticking with it.