Why I left Discovery Health

Why I left Discovery medical aid. My experience with Discovery led me to believe that they do not consider the needs and preferences of their clients but instead "force" them into specific medical decisions. During my wife's 2nd pregnancy, we decided for her to give birth with a midwife because we believe natural birth is beneficial, health wise, over c-sections at the hospital. We decided to go with the same midwife who helped us with our 1st child. We did our research in selecting this midwife ensuring her practice and facilities were registered and that she was certified and qualified for it. Our research satisfied us that she was the right person. We had a wonderful experience with her for our 1st child, hence we did not hesitate to go back with our 2nd child. With our first child we did not have medical aid so we paid cash, with our 2nd child we were on medical aid with discovery on the classic saver option. We notified Discovery that we were planning to give birth with the midwife and wanted to begin the process for the medical aid to cover it. We were told that birth with midwives is capped at approximately R10k cover and we would have to pay the balance. If we opted for the hospital then we would be covered in full. This raised flags for us! We did not want to go to a hospital because we had experiences with friends and family where a c-section birth was imposed on them even though they and the baby were healthy and no risk factors requiring a c-section existed. It was our preference to go to a midwife. We queried this and did not get a convincing reason why birthing at a registered and certified midwife could not be covered in full. To us it felt like we were being "forced" to go to a hospital where there would be a potential of a c-section imposed on us without the need. Eventually we requested that the balance must be paid from our MSA (medical savings) because we had not planned to pay cash because we thought it would be covered by the medical aid. After a lot of back and forth and our matter being escalated our request was finally approved, but you can imagine the stress my wife went through because of Discovery's policies. Furthermore, because we used our MSA it meant our MSA would deplete during the course of the year and we would have to start paying for doctors consultations and medicines from our pockets. This experience to me did not feel like Discovery cared for our family's needs and preferences and literally left us out in the cold during this stressful time. The nail in the coffin happened recently when I finally decided to leave Discovery. I cancelled with them in December 2023 and 2 months later, February 2024, they call me to tell me I owe money because I overspent on my MSA. Before I cancelled I had checked my balance to ensure I had no outstanding amounts, besides that, I had no medical claims since April 2023, so I was 100% certain my account was clean, hence I continued with the cancellation. When I asked where this outstanding amount was coming from, I was told that I must go through the year's statement and find out myself where that outstanding amount is coming from! To me it felt spiteful because I cancelled with them because they could not even have the courtesy of showing me on the statement where that amount was coming from. I went through that statement by myself and still could not see where it was coming from. Now they are telling me if I don't pay the amount will be handed over for collection. This does not seem like a company that cares about me and my family's needs when it comes to our health. I do not regret leaving!