Bad service

I don’t even know where to begin to show my disappointment on Bankmed, this is going to be a long story because I want you to understand how frustrated I am at this point.

This is the first time having to experience this with a medical scheme. I got approved for a recurring medication which was prescribed by my Dr and I had no issues when I first received the first batch. The medication was approved for that batch and unfortunately I could not take them all at the same time because of pharmacy policies

My medication was running out and as per the pharmacy I will have to come back to collect another batch and when I went there on Wednesday and I was told that this medication falls under chronic and they need authorisation from the scheme to approve so that I will be able to continue with it. That I found it very shocking because it was news to me and in my understanding for them to approve the type of medication I am taking they would need to know how was it authorised, then I called Bankmed immediately after that and I spoke to the case manager by the name of Fikile who also tried to explain the reason why they approved the first batch of which I understood but she failed to answer my question when I asked her that since they saw that I am taking such medication and there was no authorisation, why is it that no one from the scheme called me to advise that the type of medication I am taking needs authorisation and this is the very first time using it obviously I would not know the process and also nothing was communicated with me in terms of how the process works

I took blood test in June 17 and everything was fine which is why the Dr prescribed me that medication for prevention and Fikile told me that those results have expired and I need to do new ones, mind you they are two months old but they need the one which are less than a month. That was very frustrating because now I need to redo these tests all over again and mind you doing those tests is not free because the lab and the Dr will charge me for doing that and that will decrease my funds for the year.

I cooperated with Fikile and agreed to do these tests again and the Dr will send them the results and a script as soon as they become available. Fikile herself promised that she will attend to this before my last pill.

The following day I called Bankmed to find out if they received anything and they said they didn’t, then I went to my Dr and asked her to find out if the results came back and the Doctor confirmed and promised to send it the end of day on Thursday.

So when I was still on the call with another case manager, she now tells me that there is TAT for everything so even if the Doctor can send the results now they won’t be able to authorise because it goes from department to department of which that did not make sense to me because Fikile said she will prioritise this matter.

My Dr sent the results around 17:45 on Thursday and today I called around 11 to find out if they received anything and I was told that there was nothing and it normally takes about 24 to 48 hours for those documents to be allocated to my account, mind you I have already missed a day of not taking that pill, so the guy convinced me to wait until Monday for everything to be done. Then i just told myself that this is something that is not going to be sorted now so i might as well wait, i will deal with the consequences of missing those days not taking the medication.

When I was in that mode, someone tried to call me by the name Devona and unfortunately the line was bad so I had to call back and find out what is happening, to my surprise when I spoke to the gentleman Yusuf he told me that everything was approved and I can go to the pharmacy and get the medication and when I asked him about any confirmation that he needs to send as proof that everything was done, he said the pharmacy already has that information and I can go to any pharmacy.

I went to Clicks after work with the excitement that at least I missed a day so I will be able to take them tomorrow and when I get to clicks pharmacy they said that they can’t give me the medication because the scheme has not authorised anything and I stood there looking stupid and told the pharmacist that I called the scheme and they confirmed that everything. I called Bankmed and the lady that tried to assist confirmed that the last notes that were made on the systems confirms that everything was approved but unfortunately she can’t see anything further as she does not work in that department and also don’t know how she can assist as the only people that can confirm everything was from that department but she will make a note and call me on Monday during working hours to be assisted.

My issue here is that number 1 you guys approved this type of medication as emergency knowing that this type of medication is not the one that you can take once off like you would do when you have flu, so why is that no one from your scheme had a curtesy of following up with me or send some sort of an email saying that the type of medication needs authorisation because I would have done all the admin at first hand and had no issues with me?

Number 2 why is it that I am dealing with Fikile who promised to prioritised this matter never gotten back to me or even made a follow up if everything that I needed to do be done seeing that she did not receive anything?

Number 3 how is it that you guys approve everything without confirming anything in writing and even besides that how is it possible that I am being told to go to the pharmacy to get medication whereas when I get there nothing was done?

I’m literally disappointed in this service and I have had stories about Bankmed and what makes me upset is that I am the one who keeps on making follow ups and everyone is telling me different stories is so frustrating, all I need from now is to know that are you guys going to assist me or should I go to a local clinic whilst I am paying for the scheme to get help?