People Warned Me About Discovery

Joined on the 24th of April. Medical Health scheme(Smart Dynamic) was effective from the 1st of June. I was informed that there is no waiting period for this, I was happy- but short lived.

8th of June woke up with a tight chest and everyone I took a breath in, there was this severe sharp pain on around my rib cage. Needless to say breathing became more laborious. Rushed to the ER and they managed to give me an aim meds through a drip. Did blood work and an Xray and my on call doctor said he will admit me.

I informed him this is not my network hospital so can he please transfer me. He agreed, the called my network hospital. They needed preauthorisation and guess what? Discovery is closed on Sundays cause the only time we can get sick is during Mon- Sat (7am till 8pm). If you ge outside those hours, well- all the best to you. I went home with a referral letter to a doctor in my network hospital.

Arrived at 10am and sorted all the admin work out. Please bear in mind that the shortness of breath and severe pain has not magically disappeared. Sat from 11am till 2pm waiting for a response from admissions regarding my admission.

A rep from Discovery Health loosely explained: - The start date of the cover is from the 1st of June and now she is sick 7 days later. (Can we circle back to the part where there is no waiting period?) - The doctor that will admit me needs to fill in a form that states that this is the first time he is seeing me for this issue. - They need to review if this is a pre-existing condition that I have (which is not cause this is my first time in a hospital in 31yrs). - The approval will take up to 48hrs to get feedback (also, I’m still in pain, still struggling to breath). - She suggested I go back home and wait for the approval to get back for me to be admitted to the hospital to see a lung specialist because the specialist is worried about my lungs and what he saw on my Xray scans.

So I’m a nutshell: “Mam, we don’t trust that this is not a pre existing condition since you began your cover on the 1st and not you’re sick on the 8th even though there is no waiting period. Go home, in pain, with the shortness of breath. And if you die well we will see what we can do”

I wonder what could have been better? Maybe hold off getting sick until next year? I will tell my boys to do better next time and postpone the severe pain and shortness of breath. Maybe a snakebite would have made more sense?

Side note: I read the fine print and none of this is there.