Appalling service from applications team

At the end of February I took myself off of my father's medical aid (a plan at Medihelp). I then contacted Medihelp in the beginning of March, via their website, to apply for the Necesse Student option that a Medihelp advisor at their call center recommended to me sometime last year. This is a medical aid plan advertised for registered full-time students without an income. Medihelp then assigned a broker to my application. On the 24th of April, the broker told me she had submitted my application and that I should wait to hear from her.

After not hearing anything for a month, I emailed her on the 1st of June enquiring as to the status of my application. Medihelp only received my application for the first time the following day, 2 June. This means that the broker did not send my application through, even though they had already claimed to have done so. At this point, I received contact from Medihelp directly via an sms, telling me my application had been received. It transpired that one of the documents I’d sent, my proof of registration, was erroneous, as it had been the 2019 proof of registration, not my 2020 proof. This means that the broker didn’t even look through the supporting documents before submitting my application – again, more than a month after having claimed to have done so. Some time after I’d provided the correct proof, I was informed by the broker that I do not qualify for this option as I am a postgraduate student. I found this odd as the plan is advertised for registered full-time students, which I am. At this point I phoned Medihelp again to query the scenario. The advisor I reached assured me that, as long as I can prove that I am a registered full-time student, I qualify for the Necesse student option. At this point I would like to add that my father also phoned Medihelp to ask whether I qualify or not (he is currently with Medihelp) and he too was assured that I qualify. It should also be noted that, with the cumulative delays caused by the broker, I was pushed out of a 90-day window period as I had now gone over 3 months without being on a medical aid. This means that, even were I to sign up with a different medical aid now, I would not be able to get cover for my chronic medication for another 12 months. The advisor said that I should instead submit my application directly to Medihelp, circumventing the broker, and ask that a concession be made concerning the 90-day limit, owing to the appalling service provided by Medihelp’s broker, whereby I would not be barred coverage to my chronic medication.

I sent my application and the necessary documents to Medihelp via email. In this email I asked for clarification concerning the Necesse student option (I referenced the fact that the broker asserted I don’t qualify but that the Medihelp advisors said I did) and I also asked for the concession that the advisor recommended that I ask for. I was told that the issue had been sent to the broker’s supervisor. After, again, hearing nothing from either the broker or her supervisor, I sent another email to Medihelp, asking for clarification concerning the student option. The email I received back told me that I do not qualify and that I should take up my complaint with the broker myself.

I have yet to find where it stipulates that the student must be an undergraduate student. I have asked the broker and the Medihelp applications department directly via email on several occasions why postgraduate students don’t qualify, and not once has this question been answered. Furthermore, even if postgraduate students don’t qualify, this is something the Medihelp assigned broker should have told me months ago when I initiated the application procedure.

In summary, Medihelp assigned a broker to my application that was so appallingly useless, that I was pushed out of a 90 day window out of sheer incompetence, that effectively means that I cannot get coverage for my chronic medication from a medical aid for at least 12 months after signup. Furthermore, I have been denied access to an advertised medical aid option without any reason given and conflicting accounts given by the applications desk and Medihelp’s own telephonic consultants. Medihelp also refuses to take any accountability for the terrible service provided by the broker they assigned and have made no attempt to find a remedy for this problem. All of this during a global health pandemic.

I want to know why exactly I do or do not qualify for the Necesse Student option as a registered, full-time student without an income, and I want Medihelp to address the problem they created where I cannot get medical aid cover for my chronic medication for 12 months after signing with a medical aid.