No service for premium medical aid fee

I submitted a claim in December 2017 for R29300 along with the relevant proof of payment as I had paid cash for a procedure which was done in November 2017. Discovery paid the Service provider R9404.68 instead of paying me directly. This was queried several times in December, to no avail, as consultants advised that the funds had to be claimed back from the Service provider first before I can be reimbursed.

This issue lasted well into 2018, with several futile calls to Discovery and brokers. I eventually received a cash payout of R17136.33 on 1st Feb. I immediately queried this amount as it was more than the value that had been committed in 2017, and i received the following breakdown: 1. R9404.68 from hospital plan portion - 2018 benefits 2. Balance from savings - MY 2018 SAVINGS I immediately expressed that as this was a 2017 claim, I could not understand how this should impact my 2018 benefits and requested that this claim be canceled and reprocessed under 2017, and I would return the balance paid from my savings as it had more that doubled my Self Payment Gap. After many telephone calls, and lack of clear guidance, I was told that the hospital plan portion made no difference to my 2018 profile and they would contact me within 3 days to advise which account I could return the funds to. Needless to say, I am still waiting for a miracle. I even engaged Peter Hallendorff and Sue Stone, brokers referred to me - no service received there either.

There are 3 members on this medical aid - we are R4000 away from depleting our medical aid savings, and a whopping R18k self payment gap awaits us before we can access the above threshold limit - need i say that we are not even half way through the year? I am truly beside myself with the lack of service received, considering the continuous monthly premium we are parting with.

Highly disappointed, frustrated and at a loss for words... spending evenings researching alternative medical aid options