Discovery Medical Aid – Extremely disappointing handling of my maternity cover and hospital network

I am extremely disappointed and frustrated with Discovery Health and the way my maternity care has been handled.

When I found out I was pregnant, I specifically contacted Discovery to confirm whether Life Kingsbury Hospital was part of my Delta hospital network. I explained that the Discovery Health app showed the hospital as having “Full Network Cover”, but when I checked the 2026 hospital network PDF available online, Kingsbury did not appear to be listed as part of the Delta network.

The Discovery consultant I spoke to confirmed to me telephonically that Kingsbury was on my Delta hospital network. I was specifically advised that I should rely on the information on the Discovery app/online platform because this was the most up-to-date information and that the PDF was outdated.

Because this was so important to me, I called Discovery again several weeks later to make absolutely sure. Once again, I was verbally assured that the hospital was within my network, and the Discovery app continued to show “Full Network Cover” for Kingsbury.

I re**** on these confirmations when making decisions about my pregnancy and delivery. I am now six months pregnant, and Discovery is suddenly telling me that Kingsbury is not part of the Delta network and that I need to consider finding another hospital.

Even more concerning is that Discovery has now changed the information displayed on the app. The hospital previously showed “Full Network Cover”, but it now only shows “Day surgery”.

This is not a minor administrative issue. I am six months pregnant. My obstetrician delivers at Kingsbury, and changing hospitals at this stage could mean having to find another doctor as well. I chose my hospital and obstetrician based on information that Discovery itself provided and confirmed to me more than once.

Discovery acknowledged that this needed to be investigated and told me last week that they would listen to the recordings of my previous calls. I was also told that, because I had been given confirmation that Kingsbury was covered, they could look at waiving the penalty associated with using a non-network hospital.

As of today, I am still waiting for Discovery to come back to me.

Why am I, as the client, having to repeatedly call and follow up about a problem that was created by incorrect information provided by Discovery?

Why should I be put in the position of potentially having to change my hospital and doctor six months into my pregnancy, after I specifically took the time to confirm my network benefits with Discovery twice?

What are the implications if I had not questioned this now and simply arrived at Kingsbury to deliver my baby believing I had full network cover, based on Discovery’s own confirmation?

I understand that network arrangements can change. However, when a member proactively contacts you specifically to verify maternity hospital cover, and your representatives confirm that the hospital is covered, the member should reasonably be able to rely on that information.

I am not asking Discovery to simply make an exception as a favour. I am asking Discovery to take responsibility for the information that was provided to me and the decisions I made based on that information.

I expect Discovery to urgently resolve this matter, provide me with a clear written outcome, and confirm what cover will apply to my delivery at Kingsbury given the previous confirmations I received.

This has caused me an enormous amount of unnecessary stress at an already vulnerable and important time in my pregnancy. I should not have to fight my medical aid to establish what cover I have, particularly after I did exactly what I was supposed to do and checked with them in advance.