Medical Aid is a ****

I was raised with the expectation that one NEEDS medical aid, it's for security, emergencies, and well-being. I hardly go to the hospital, the previous minor surgery I had was in 2011, and back then there were no issues. Before that was the birth of my daughter in 2009. THAT'S IT! I've been paying medical aid since 2003 - that's 20 years.

WHAT HAPPENED to the medical industry? In December 2023 I had to go for tests because of my health, and based on these tests I needed surgery, which was done on the 8th of Jan 2024. For these past two dates, the amount of R61643,58 was claimed, and only R27623,95 was paid. I'm left with R34019,63 that I have to pay. This is after the surgeon already gave me an R7493 discount on the surgery because he knew the medical aid wouldn't pay (so it would have been R41512 out of my pocket). That's more than 50%. And this is only the past two instances that I needed my medical aid more than ever. Not even counting the day-to-day that I still have to cover out of my pocket on top of my big installment.

Medical aid doesn't give you that sense of comfort anymore. They don't give you the security anymore. Why have it??? If they don't even cover minor needs, what will happen when it's something major?

It hurts to think that if I had put aside the medical aid installment, for the past, say 12 years only, I would have been able to pay for all of this out of my pocket and still had a lot of money left.