Absolute **** show of a medical aid

This medical aid is an utter waste of time. I would not recommend it to ANYONE. On the 1st of July my dad presented to trauma with severe pain. He was seen and it was discovered he has a huge kidney stone. Dr advised that the urologist be seen and the removal scheduled and so the nightmare started. GEMs refused the authorisation for admission. While this decision is slightly understandable as my dad had been on the medical aid for about 5 months having completed his 3 month general waiting period I just dont understand how a medical aid can drag out a process for so long with no valid reason. A few days later my mother received an authorised code via an sms with no indication of what it was for. We went ahead and booked with the urologist only to call med aid for admissions authorisation and medical aid telling us the case is still under investigation. They said this will take 10-15 working days. Their reason for this is to investigate whether the kidney stone was a pre existIng condition that was not previously disclosed???? How is a kidney stone a pre existing condition? They advised they would need a letter of motivation from the GP to state that this was bot the case and it had to be emailed to the medical aid and this would take up to 10 working days to be read. In the mean time my dad is in severe pain and barely able to work or stand up straight most days. We booked at groote schuur and got an app because what choice did we have???? On the 28th of july my dad went to groote schuur to have a stent put in. When they arrived home my mom got 3 authorisation emails from GEMS. We were elated. Dad could finally have the stone removed at a private hospital. Dr was called. Surgery was booked. Today we called for authorisation codes guess what? The investigation is still pending. At this point my dad could have kidney damage or failure by the time they finish their more than month long investigation in which they will find nothing. In the mean time my dad has to suffer while medical aid conducts this ridiculous investigation until thy kingdom come.

Med aid: GEMS emerald Patient: Mr Mark Ryan ( *** ) Membership number : *** Main member Sharon Wilson ( *** ) Email ***