I have been a member of Discovery Health since 2002 and have always been happy with their service until I went onto their Oncology program in 2007. The oncology department is a 'law unto themselves' and do not respond to queries. I sent my query regarding unpaid bills by e-mail on 3 June, 7 July & 16 July 09. I also faxed the query to the oncology department on 12th June 09. I followed up with phone calls to Sandra Alexander but, to date, I am still awaiting a response. There is no area on their web site where one can lodge a complaint and their call centre does not handle oncology queries. I am very disappointed with the lack of service from Discovery's oncology department.

My wife has been diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism which is not covered by the Chronic Illness Benefit, while Hypothyroidism is. Both are life threatening conditions, one disease is for an overactive Thyroid gland (Hyperthyroidism) while the other is for a under-active (Hypothyroidism) Thyroid gland. It pains me to understand how one can be covered while the other is not! Hyperthyroidism can also lead to a number of conditions, such as heart problems which are covered by the scheme where as the cause of the condition is not! Its like only covering conditions effecting your right leg and not your left!This is shocking and it is just spelling out the problem I have with medical aid, you never know what you are really covered for. Just now you get some strange new disease and they tell you its not covered because its never been diagnosed before! Its like your motor insurance company only insuring you against accidents between Audi and BMW and if a Opel hits you, you're not covered!

These guys are absolutely useless. After consistently attempting to get them to pay for a 3 day hospital stay for over a year now after i paid the hospital, they have refused to pay out. They will tell you the world but ultimately it's only the shareholders they care about not your health, and the vitality gym *** is even better, cause you pay R875 for a LIFE TIME MEMBERSHIP. However they have now cancelled mine for a second time due to me not going and your min is twice a month and 24 times a year, i suppose the 20 times i went in the last month doesn't really count because virgin can't get there scanners right which is my problem because i'm only the customer?. Cause let's face it they need to derive money so Branson can make some money poor fellow. Discovery and it's partners are just a money making *** that attempts to attract you with benefits but never delivers. Liberty Health are Half the price and from what other members are telling me excellent with there service, that's because they don't *** you with 10% discounts on That you paid for anyway and then some. there a medical aid and they stick to it. I sincerely hope discovery health falls to pieces.

I emailed about the Discovery 911 product. It is now been two days since my last email - no respond. Looks like if Discovery Health get`s one type of information to identify you they try to search you on thier members database (if you are a member) and then like log`s a query just to answer simple questions. I think it is unacceptable to try identify someone with out the necessary authorasation from the person.

Recently one of Discovery's consultants from Verso got me to change my medical aid from Liberty Life to Discovery health and at that time I needed to remove my wisdom teeth. The consultant told me that Discovery will cover all of the costs if a Maxilla facial surgeon has to operate which was in fact the case. Discovery deducted everything in my medical savings account and now I must also pay R5700 for medical bills that Verso promised me would have been deducted from my risk fund. According to other people I have spoken to, the same promises were made to them by various Discovery consultants.