Peanuts limit (2021) on over-the-counter medication or **** by Discovery Health

We are paying approximately R7000 per month (40% individual + 60% employer) in premiums for LA Active option in Discovery Health Medical Aid as a family of four. My wife is the main member and I’m her spouse with two children of 14 years and 5 years. Discovery only allocates approximately R18 000 plus R10 000 Medical Savings Account (that we access after finishing R18 000), excluding in-hospital expenses obviously. Now this R18 000 includes everything (Optometry glasses, Dentistry, Doctor consultations & treatment) in one fund for the four of us, it was never enough, unlike in other medical aid schemes like Bonitas and many others where the there is a separate fund for each category.

In fact the only reason we tolerated Discovery Health was the over-the-counter access we enjoyed for the whole year for many years as long as we have not yet exhausted our available funds. Now, this benefit suddenly vanished (limited to R1200 per person per year) at the beginning of this year 2021 (emanating from their unilateral decision that excludes us as customers) and this is the reason I’m writing to Hellopeter.

We are emotionally disturbed as a family that during the times of COVID-19 we cannot get enough vitamins & simple headache tablets but only allocated an amount enough for one or two months (R1200 per person per year) and that’s it. The allocation of funds for wife & myself for over-the-counter have been exhausted already and it’s only in February 2021.

So this means that we have to go via the doctor and pay high consultation fees to have access to vitamins or adcodol tablets for headaches. So the medical aid is not serving the interests of the clients who are the source of funds but the doctors instead. It also means that Discovery Health medical is imitating other medical aids only regarding over-the-counter non-prescribed medication (which was only what it was good at in our situation) whereas Discovery Health is worse compared others as it does NOT allocate different amounts for different categories such as dentistry for example, as I’ve mentioned above. All categories are under one umbrella, that’s why they finish quickly.

In the good, the bad and the ugly, Discovery Health unilaterally decided to eliminate the only good they have in our situation, so it is left with the bad and the ugly.

So I see no point that we, as a family, should remain with such Greedy Capitalists as Discovery Health that are interested in receiving funds from clients monthly but not willing to ensure strong immunity for their clients until they end up in hospital.

My wife phoned them today and they responded by saying that clients are abusing the-over-the counter medication, that’s why they have put a limit of R1200 per person. They also said if we did not use the initial amount of R18 000 it will roll over and accumulate to next year 2022. But what about the R10 000 on Medical Savings account? On that one they said it will be forfeited if we did not exhaust the initial R18 000.

Now you see a clear example of broad day light ******* because if we are effectively prohibited from using over-the-counter medications, how are we going to exhaust the R18 000. For instance, last year we were rarely sick from flu (all of us in my family) because of strong immunity due to access Discovery Health gave us to over-the-counter vitamins until they blocked us this year (2021) because we were apparently “abusing” our funds. I don’t know about this apparent abuse but I thought those allocated funds are due to us for Christ’s sake. It means that if I have a funds in the bank savings account I can be prevented from using them to my advantage because that will amount to “abuse” and I must forfeit my money because of that. We were using those funds to buy vitamins from pharmacy not to buy junk food. What does abusing funds have to do with the pharmacist issuing vitamins to the Discovery Health member? Were allocated funds meant to cure us when we are sick or were they meant to prevent us from getting sick in the first place? If they were solely meant to cure us when we are sick, it looks like this Discovery Health is serving the interests of doctors at the expense of paying customers. How does one get vitamins worth R1200 for whole year during the pandemic?

That’s more like a **** by Discovery Health. I suspect that after losing profits from clients affected by COVID-19, they have decided to rob existing clients in order to maintain their profits despite COVID-19 challenges. We are still weighing our option as a family regarding the hyenas called Discovery Health. Thank you.