Poor Service/ Authorization

<p>My dad has been a member of Spectramed for almost 4 years. The fir st 3 years they barely used the medical aid and they always paid cash for any medical requirements including chronic meds. Last year he suffered a mild heart attack and then he only started using the medical aid for visits and emergencies, still continuing paying cash for all meds. Due to the heart condition he had a pacemaker implanted. But he was in and out of hospital due to his heart. In November 2016 with his first pacemaker check up, the cardiologist noticed a arrhythmia and he was referred to specialist in the field. We could only secure an appointment for Feb 2017. In December 2016 my dad decided to up his medical plan from a Cyan to Azure plan (which is more expensive) because there was a possibility for a procedure in Feb 2017. Upon his appointment in Feb 2017 the specialist scheduled him for ablation on the 24th of Feb. I called the medical aid on the 8th to get the authorization. The medical aid requested a motivation from the specialist. Which i sent through. They declined it. Then they requested a motivation from his cardiologist, which i sent. They declined again. They requested a second motivation from his cardiologist, i also sent it. They declined it again for the 3rd time. This took 16 days in total. Over a R 1000 in calls to the medical aid, speaking to over 10 different consultants and lots of promises to call back. On the last decline, they sent an email giving us the reasons for the decline, but all the reason they contradicted themselves. We have to postpone the procedure until 13 March to try and solve the problem. Taking in consideration that my dad has been of his heart meds for over 4 weeks now due to the scheduled procedure. I then sent a detailed report back to them with proof of my dad's condition and then again they asked for reports. I then sent pacemaker report which we got from the cardiologist, and now 5 days later, they once again declined it. We reached breaking point as we dont get results. It seems they taking their time with the issue and we have 11 days left before the scheduled procedure. Why are they taking so long and asking us to keep on submitting documents and still we get declined. We cant get more pacemaker reports due to the medical aid limiting us to only one pacemaker test per year. My dad is only due in Nov 2017 for another pacemaker test. The medication he used to help with the arrhythmia has so many bad side effects, but still they keep on insisting he uses the medication. What are we to do? I would like someone at Spectramed to contact us to assist us with the issue. The consultants and the supervisor isnt of any help.</p>