Firstly let me say I am on the Classic Comprehensive and the total payment received by Discovery amounts close to R5000 per month. I am a single Mom with an adopted child who is Feotal Alchol Syndrome. On the night (after mid-night) on the 21 February 2011 I had to rush my son to the emergancy department at St Georges Hospital, he had been vomitting for over 4 hours. (This is the FIRST time I have EVER used the emergency department. My son was monitored, BP 196/110 (scary stuff) Blood was taken and he was put on a drip. We were there till 5:30am
I now find that the hospital is charging me a fee for "After Hours" and an admin fee (isn't that what the emergency dept is - "after hours" ?? ) - (Sorry my son took ill at an inopportune time) and this is NOT being paid for by Discovery plus the blood that was taken is also not being paid for by Discovery!!! because of Discovery's CODE 400 - excuse me but I wasn'nt given a choice of Pathologists to choose from. (In an emergency you don't even think of those things anyway!) It is not for me to question why they are taking blood, I am trusting that they know what needs to be done to save / stabalize a life. It is not my fault that they did'nt use the referring doctors name or the correct codes. I don't control the emergency department and my medical savings account has more that enough money in it to cover this. The amont of time and money this has cost I could have paid less at the hairdresser and at least got a cup of tea. The account will from my side remain unpaid and an ongoing dispute with Discovery will contine. Does one have to query every plaster, cotton swab etc etc before administration to see if DISCOVERY will cover. I am just so disappointed that I am one of six people in my company on Discovery and I will tell you five of us are VERY VERY unhappy and thinking of alternative options.