Bonitas the worst possible Medical Aid,

I am 74 and have been suffering from colon problems for over 30 years and have had several operations in the past. After some of the operations I got peritonitis and had to have home nursing for several months. Because of this and the amount of scar tissue and my age surgeons are reluctant to operate and I rather follow a very strict gluten free diet. I am supposed to go for a colonoscopy at least every 4 years, Because of COVID and other issues I have not been for a colonoscopy for almost 6 years. I also suffer from Barretts Esophagus which can easily turn cancerous, Because I have not been well lately and blood tests revealed nothing my GP recommended that I go to a surgeon for a colonoscopy ad a gastroscopy.

I did this and after arranging with the surgeon I was booked into hospital for both.

In line with Bonitas Protocol I app**** for and received approval for both the surgeon and the hospital. The procedures are performed in the operating theatre.

I had the procedure on the 14th March and both the hospital had the required authorization from Bonitas.

Yesterday I received from Bonitas advising that the procedures were not covered by them and that they would not be paying. At no point prior to being admitted to the hospital did I receive any notification from Bonitas that my approval had been changed from approved to declined, The reason for being declined was that the procedure was not covered by the scheme rules. This is absolute ******* as previous procedures have been covered and the surgeon has advised that he had never heard of this before.

When I phoned Bonitas this morning I was informed that the procedures had definitely been approved but had subsequently been declined, They had no reason why it had been declined but gave the impression that it was a mistake, However they advised me that it would take 20 working days for them to resolve the issue,.

Obviously whilst I wait for their 20 days I have bills to pay,

In addition what I really cant get over is that they gave me authorization for the procedure but they did not then advise that they had subsequently declined the authorization, I only found this out when they declined to pay anything towards the surgeons account

Every time I have dealings with Bonitas I have major problems, When I email them I get an automated response but never actually get a reply from them answering my query,

Unfortunately I am retired and as my ex employer pays some of my monthly contributions I cannot move to another Medical Aid and so I am stuck with what I think must be the worst medical aide in the country,

However on this occasion I really believe Bonitas have really outdone themselves in being totally inefficient,