Medihelp discriminates against elderly

This is a review on behalf of my husband Robin Waite:

I have been an ‘Elite’ member of Medihelp for over 26 years and pay R5610 a month for a single adult only. Every time I submit a claim I get back their standard letter rejecting the claim for some trivial reason or another. The last one being that they could not read my membership number. And when they do eventually pay they only pay a percentage.

One gets the feeling that they are constantly trying to wriggle out of paying. Twice they have paid the recipient directly when I have already paid, and it’s stamped ‘paid’ right across the invoice. Then you have to go through a whole laborious process to get the money back.

The last straw is that they are refusing to pay the hospital costs for a shoulder operation amounting to R69000. The reason given is that it is considered ‘war and tear’. I am 77 years old and to me this is ************** against the elderly.

I explained to them that I live on a farm and over the years I’ve had a number of bumps and sc****s. I even fell off my motorbike several months ago and ended up rather badly bruised. As my doctor is 65kms away I can’t just pop in and pay him a visit. As I mentioned to Medihelp, any small bump could have been a precursor to my shoulder problem. In addition, I am right handed and surely my right shoulder should have ‘wear and tear’ before my left shoulder which was the problem one.

Both my sister and my ex-wife have had knee and hip surgery respectively and are both in their seventies and were covered 100% by their medical aids (obviously not Medihelp). It would seem that the older you get, the less your benefits!

Robin Waite