Cheated continuously by Bonitas

With the state of public healthcare in this country being as shambolic as it is, having medical aid was supposed to have made my life easier but it does not seem to have done so. It's only made it more complicated and left me in mountains of debt.

My mother was admitted at the DR SK Matseke Memorial Hospital (Formerly Lesedi Private Clinic) on March 27, after complaining that she has a chest pain and is struggling to breathe. She was admitted for about four days. A few weeks ago, I received a call from a debt collection company that said I owe the hospital R8495, and according to the medical aid I have, this did not make sense. Hospital stays are supposed to be covered by the fund. I then called the hospital, and they told me, that the reason that the payment was not submitted to the fund, was that at admissions and authorization stage, Bonitas did not authorize the hospital stay because of a pre-existing medical condition's waiting period. I was not made aware of this. I only knew of one condition being on a waiting period. And all things considered, how did they decide that she was being admitted for Hypertension before she was even checked by a doctor? Surely the medical aids need to have some sort of system that they use to verify this. Now I'm told that the hospital stay after I raised my query has been authorized, but if the hospital did not send claims, it will be unpaid. Because the claim is now stale. I feel cheated by Bonitas, and I have just realized that medical aids in this country are not meant to assist but cause more trauma.