********* business practice

On 20 October my GP sent a referral request for the gynaecologist to Discovery. On Monday 26 October, I phoned Discovery to follow up on the authorization. I explained to the Agent that I was in immense pain and needed to see the specialist ASAP. He told me he would escalate the query and it would take 7 working hours for a response once escalated. I went to see the gynae on Tuesday, 27 October. The authorization from Discovery was then only sent on Thursday, 29 October. Now Discovery is refusing to pay for the specialist even though the request was eventually approved. 1. if the request was approved, why are you refusing to pay? 2. Does Discovery not realize that they are not a car insurance, they work with people's health? I was in a lot of pain and needed to see the doctor 3. what is the official turn-around time for approval of authorizations for specialists? This took 9 working days but 11 days in total.