Pay Now and Pay Later

My Parents have been loyal member of Bonitas medical fund (Boncap option) for the better part of the last 10 years. They are now both retired and when a growth appeared in my dad's neck he was told that the option that was recommendated to him by one of their Independant advisors did not cover the procedure as it was considered cosmetic. Later a growth appeared in his mouth and he was told that because it was not terminal that procedure is not covered as his life is not put in immediate danger. The first motivation from his ENT was denied and only after the Dr threatened to approach the medical Council did they approve the procedure. His motivation was that if left untreated that my dad would choke to death. My dad paid for removal of the lump in his neck out of his own pocket and upon receiving the results of the biopsy it was discovered that my dad had stage 3 lymphoma. My dad is now registered for the oncology program which means that all expenses should be covered as per the PMB benefit. He still gets bills and when we try to query it we are given the run around with no straight answers. When we went into their walk in center at Sanlam Head Office the lady stationed there told us that if they had to put all the exclusions in the brochure that it would be hundreds of pages long. We told her that people make decisions on which option to chose based on the information in a brochure. She told us that PHA is a third party that deals with the administration but they can't even tell us what pathology formulary is used. My dad has always gone to Pathcare for his blood work now out of the blue they don't want to pay for pathcare instead he should use Ampath. If he had known that, he would of gone to Ampath. To those reading this. It's quite disgusting to pay for something thinking that you are covered with a Company just to find out that the third party PHA who you have no control over calls the shots. These were hardworking people who faithfully pays their contributions to their medical on time to cover themselves for old age. Bontas and PHA has failed my dad. Added to his treatment he has to carry the burden of additional costs because of the *********** individuals at PHA. I will never recommend their services to any adult who has elderly parents. I feel that they deliberately misled my parents into thinking they are covered and will surely been taking this to the medical aid council of south africa. P.S I'm forced to give them a one star so that I'm allowered to share this experience however it's a - 5 for us