Non-Chargeable Item

Good Day, I went in for an operation on 05 October 2022 at Mediclinic Paarl. On 08 November I received an invoice from Mediclinic Paarl for an outstanding amount of R437.00, which my medical aid did not cover. I paid the outstanding amount directly to Mediclinic Paarl, because I knew I have gap cover which would cover this outstanding amount. Via my medical aid assistant, I put in the claim to my gap cover, but they came back to say they were not going to pay the R437.00 back to me, because it was a “non-chargeable” item. When the medical aid admin assistant queried this with the medical aid and the gap cover – why they were not paying or covering this amount of R437.00? We came the realisation that this amount of R437.00 was for a BLANKET BAIR HUGGER TORSO. = “Just before I was taken into theatre the one of the nursing staff asked me if I was cold. I rep**** yes, so they went to fetch a blanket for me that was made warm. It wasn’t on me for more than 5-10 minutes before they came to take me to theatre”. If I knew then that I would be paying R437.00, out of my own pocket, I would have never answered yes when I was asked if I was cold. My medical aid admin assistant communicated with Mediclinic Paarl for them to refund me, but they came back every time, saying that the account was referred to management and that they would not be able to communicate any further with the medical aid assistant because of the POPI act. I directly emailed Mediclinic Paarl on 21 February 2023. Requesting them to refund me, because this was not acceptable for me - that I had to pay R437.00 for a blanket which wasn’t even on me a few minutes. 24 February 2023 I received a reply, just saying that they escalated it to my medical aid but it would not be covered – which I knew already. I then phoned them and they said they would again look into the matter and get back to me. 02 March 2023 I followed-up again with an email and requested Mediclinic Paarl to please write-off this amount of R437.00 and pay it back to me. 06 March 2023 I did not receive any reply back from Mediclinic Paarl. I sent an email again and requested them to acknowledge receipt of my email I sent 02 March. I received a reply: ‘I did receive you previous e-mail and send it to our Manager for feedback’. I received a reply from the Patient Administration Manager: “Can I please request till the end of the week to investigate this as the medical aid is not adhering to the contract agreement with Mediclinic and I would like to send to our Corporate Office? I would appreciate your patience in this regard as we cannot just write amounts off when the medical aids are supposed to pay according to the contract agreement irrespective of what they have informed you as the member.” (This by the way was not true, because we queried this with the medical aid and they do not cover “non-chargeable” items). I rep**** back that I will be patient and await her response. 14 March I did not as yet receive any feedback and followed-up with the Patient Administration Manager. It is 24 March now and I have not heard back from Mediclinic Paarl as yet. Unacceptable from a hospital that I was always were very happy with.