It depends on the veterinary association(s) you are comparing. As mentioned above, one notable veterinary association, as a tool to keep costs low and retain members, partnered with the insurer to reduce the hourly rate paid to attorney's and expert witnesses who defend and represent their members.

Luckily, for the time being, animals are still viewed as personal property in the eyes of the law. So, from strictly a clinical perspective, a lack of legal performance of a veterinary association program policy may seem underwhelming, and it is, if the subject is confined to damages to the pet (personal property), the overall cost may be negligible at least for small animal vetmed. However, when it comes to defending your license, especially over a bogus allegation, poor legal representation is not a good member benefit, and some state licensing boards can have a punitive attitude towards veterinarians.

Conversely, coverage from a business owner policy may often be stronger from a legal performance perspective.

At Vetinsure, we do not offer veterinary professional in a business policy without license defense, except in cases where the owner is not a DVM. Such is the reality in states like Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, to name a few. If a non-DVM owns a veterinary hospital 100%, omitting license defense coverage is acceptable if the associate vets all hold their own individual veterinary professional liability. But again, they must consider the legal performance of the association policy as mentioned above.