BEWARE : Just do one thing well ...Life Policies, Car Insurance, Medical Aid, Gap Cover and now Credit Cards BUT don't get sick

It is ironic that when Googling to find out the length of time Discovery took to respond to a claim, instead of being directed to Discovery's site, I was directed to your site hellopeter. That should have been a sign of things to come. I took out chronic illness cover. One expects then that when one is diagnosed with a chronic illness, one is covered. Wrong. There is nothing more annoying than false advertising and feeling that you have the assurance that you and your property are covered ~ the reason you pay (no small sum) for this product. Here's what you will get via advertising and articles when they are speaking for themselves: " You can be sure of comprehensive lifestyle protection for you and your family, and benefit payments calculated to relieve any financial burdens". False

"Discovery’s philosophy is that your benefit payments should be commensurate with the financial effect that an illness has on your life, so most of its policies make tiered payments, Friedlander says. However, Discovery also offers policies that pay out at least 100 percent of the assured amount on the big four conditions". False

"In addition, Discovery allows you to convert life cover into immediate cash for a number of life-changing events, including cancer, brain tumours, transplants, connective tissue diseases and problems related to the central nervous system, and the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal and renal systems. This means that you can claim for a dread disease even when you do not have dread disease cover on your policy. This feature is standard on all Discovery’s life policies at no extra cost". False.

"Discovery Life, Liberty, Old Mutual and Sanlam offer only lump-sum cover for critical illnesses. Friedlander says it is to your advantage to receive the cash upfront. If the benefit is a recurring payment, you have to survive your illness to receive the benefit and, with some illnesses, your life expectancy may be short. Even if your illness is prolonged, most of the large expenses are likely to occur early on, he says." Well, if all the above is false then the most part of this is also false. I was diagnosed with COPD (and also have Chrones Disease). I have critical illness cover with Discovery. Here is the reality of the situation. If you are looking for this kind of product, look at other companies. A friend had this cover with another company. This is what got me thinking about having cover as I am a single person with no children and work in a health care setting that is not conducive to staying well. She experienced absolutely none of what I have now experienced. Her claim was handled very quickly, her pay out took a few weeks and she was paid out for the amount insured for. She is still very healthy. The reality of the situation is you either have a chronic illness or you don't. You will note in their comments (the part that is correct) that "....Even if your illness is prolonged, most of the large expenses are likely to occur early"... It does happen early on. The expenses are exorbitant. SO, I have had my claim denied. I still have too much lung capacity (that is measured by a lung function test which is breathing in and out through a little thing a couple of times). This is no way takes into account the current functioning that is impacted by other factors in one's environment. This would be far too difficult to ascertain on a case by case basis. It is a one size fits all approach. This is not how health care providers or providers of health care products should function. It's disgraceful. Please do your homework if you are going to deal with Discovery. If a healthy person functions at 100%, one needs to be at least half dead (50%) to get any kind of pay out and I'm guessing (as they have stipulated in their assessment guidelines) that the amount you are insured for in total, will pay out when you are almost dead or certainly not capable of much other than a bed and an oxygen tank. They of course came back with eloquent counter arguments to all that I had stipulated but at the end of the day, like in all capitalist economies, it is the corporate giants against the consumer and South African consumers are passive for the most part. Like so many other companies, these corporates should focus on doing one thing well. I would advise to stay away from Life cover, insurance and certainly chronic illness cover. Who knows, maybe Discovery half way becoming a bank with the option of a credit card is safe enough but anything that is dependent on individual circumstances - look elsewhere.