Discovery Health doesn't care about your health, only your funds.

My daughter (17) has been diagnosed with Alopecia a few years ago. Other than the fact that she has been wearing a wig to school for almost a year now, the medical bills are quite substantial. This should be covered under the medical aid’s chronic diseases.

I understand that the disease isn’t “life threatening”, but the definition of “chronic” is:

1.(of an illness) persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.

That is exactly what my daughter is experiencing.

Alopecia is a chronic skin disease with an unknown etiology. It significantly affects the patient quality of life. How can it not be regarded as a chronic disease by the Medical Aid?

I phoned Discovery Health and they maintain that "Alopecia is not covered under the Prescribed Minimum Benefits by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), and as such there is no cover for the disease under their chronic disease program."

I contacted the CMS and their official reply: "Alopecia is not covered under the Prescribed Minimum Benefits and as such each medical scheme may decide if they want to cover the disease under their chronic disease program."

...you see the loop here...

I logged a dispute with Discovery Health more than a month ago, but they are still trying to figure out why my daughter has to suffer without benefits.

Thank you for caring Discovery, I will now try to find alternative cover.