Useless

So in March I found out I was pregnant, my first thing to do was call the medical aid. I spoke to a lady who was very friendly but clearly had no idea what on earth she was doing. I asked her how the claims work and for the actual birthing process, how the payments are done. She told me that I shouldn’t stress, my birth will be covered, even though I had told her that I was going through a midwife. (Looking back, i honestly don’t think she knows what a midwife is and completely ignored that part). She asked me what day the birth would be and I told her that I’m doing natural, so it could be absolutely any day! But I have been given a date of estimate, she was very confused by this. Eventually I got off the phone with her thinking that everything is sorted, I don’t have to be stressed. All I need to do is send through a pre-authorization quote with the correct codes 3 months in advance, and they will tell me how much I need to pay in.

So 3 months before my baby is due and I email to do the preauthorisation, I ask them what is required and if they can tell me how much they cover (as this is what the lady had told me to do). I get informed that I have to do the preauthorisation first before they can give me an amount. I then do the preauthorisation and the pre-assessment and then they tell me that unfortunately they have not received rates for 2019 yet. Now this process has taken a few weeks because they take days before they respond. I ask them if she comes in December how much they would cover, and they tell me they can’t tell me because the preauthorisation has been done for January and something about a legal document.

Now I’m two months away from my due date, and I have no idea what to expect. I ask around and get informed that they only pay about 3k out of the 10k for the birth because that is the medical health rate. Now I’m not sure why I pay so much for medical aid every month when I have to pay so much in myself. I ask the lady at discovery why they pay so little, and she tells me that my midwife is not on their “network” of midwives. I asked them for a list and they did not have one. I find this absolutely silly because I can’t suck it out of my thumb. Eventually the lady makes up a list for me and the closest midwife to me is more than 7 hours away! So once a month I should drive 7 hours to go see this midwife? And then when im in labor should I just keep my legs crossed for 7 hours and hope that I make it to the midwife in time and that nothing goes wrong?

So I asked her why do they cover so much more for hospitals? And she tells me that they don’t. Apparently it’s ONLY about 2k to spend a night in hospital and you only go for one or two nights (which they will save on since I’m not going to the hospital and clearly went over her head) and then she admits they pay gynaes out more, and she is unsure why. Midwives do the exact same job that a gynae does, do they not? They deliver your baby, they help you through the birth, and they do it in the comfort of your own home. So why are they so under appreciated? Why do they not get the recognition and why do they get paid less?

I am two months from welcoming my little girl into this world, and now I have the stress of finding 6/7k because discovery have been completely useless in helping me throughout my pregnancy, and informing me from the start of what to expect. The people that work there do not even know what is happening themselves, and have made my life so much harder.