Discovery Health - Vitality & Team Vitality plus everything else you need to know

[Frosty]

I got mine last night

Thanks for the PM, got mine too.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Soooo, I called Discovery to cancel my Vitality but was put off by the call centre agent.

She mentioned that because Vitality is linked to life policy, don't have Disco Med Aid, that it would impact my life benefits.

I do recall there being quite a few Vitality based bonuses, etc.

Is this true?

 

 

The premium itself is based on vitality, its an automatic 25% discount for vitality members, then annual increases are discounted relative to vitality status and health claims which would not be applicable here.

 

Like this year my increase percentage was reduced by 1%.

 

So you will pay a decent chunk more, loose your cash back benefits and loose your increase discounts.

The way it works in practice is that if you cancel vitality, your annual premium increases will be adjusted upwards to the same level as if you were a "BLUE" vitality client, until such time as the initial 8.75% to 20% up-front discount (NOT 25%) is eroded. 

 

This additional premium increase can be up to 3.9% per year over and above your normal premium increases. 

 

In addition, if you have the "cover integrator" or "financial integrator" your cover will increase at a slightly lower rate than it ordinarily would have, also serving to slowly reduce the discount on the premiums (by way of increasing the cover more slowly) so that eventually you arrive at the point you would have been had you not "integrated" the policy. These negative adjustments can be up to -1.25% p/a depending on your policy's structure. 

 

This practice takes place over many, many years, and is NOT immediate. That's why it's not always advisable to cancel an integrated discovery policy if you no longer have Vitality, and you should never "unintegrate" as that would trigger an immediate re-rating. 

[Reme Le Hane]

The way it works in practice is that if you cancel vitality, your annual premium increases will be adjusted upwards to the same level as if you were a "BLUE" vitality client, until such time as the initial 8.75% to 20% up-front discount (NOT 25%) is eroded.

 

This additional premium increase can be up to 3.9% per year over and above your normal premium increases.

 

In addition, if you have the "cover integrator" or "financial integrator" your cover will increase at a slightly lower rate than it ordinarily would have, also serving to slowly reduce the discount on the premiums (by way of increasing the cover more slowly) so that eventually you arrive at the point you would have been had you not "integrated" the policy. These negative adjustments can be up to -1.25% p/a depending on your policy's structure.

 

This practice takes place over many, many years, and is NOT immediate. That's why it's not always advisable to cancel an integrated discovery policy if you no longer have Vitality, and you should never "unintegrate" as that would trigger an immediate re-rating.

Mine was 25%

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Mine was 25%

okay. In conjunction with other discounts, yeah. Esp if there was the "Vitality Rating Discount" as well, which only came in to place in the last 2 or so years.

 

Rest of the post stands. The Health Integrator discount itself has never been above 20%, and that's how it works in practice when you remove Vitality. Over time, not in one fell swoop. 

Edited May 30, 2019 by Captain Fatbastard Mayhem

[Dexter-morgan]

And that is how they hold on to you.

[Dirkitech]

okay. In conjunction with other discounts, yeah. Esp if there was the "Vitality Rating Discount" as well, which only came in to place in the last 2 or so years.

 

Rest of the post stands. The Health Integrator discount itself has never been above 20%, and that's how it works in practice when you remove Vitality. Over time, not in one fell swoop. 

Mr Mayhem, just curious, am I right to assume that there are no repercussions for discovery clients that cancel vitality as long as they don't have things like life policies, but only medical aid?

I'm guessing yes, but don't know for sure. I'm starting to think Discovery wins mostly when a person signs up for vitality. They keep taking the same medical aid premiums, in spite of a presumably healthier member. In return the member gets some discounts that they have to juggle and work for most of the time.

May as well just pay the medical aid price and stick vitality to them if you're not doing it for gym/devices etc?

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

And that is how they hold on to you.

Make a deal with the devil, you never realize why it is such a good deal when you move over till something like this happens.

Oh well........

[Grebel]

An interesting bit of info regarding the rewards vouchers... the suppliers decide how many vouchers to make available and when to have them available. Take Cape Union Mart. They might release 100 vouchers. Once they are all claimed the option disappears. It may take 3 days or 3 months before they decide to allocate more vouchers. There is no set cycle

 

So at the end of the day it's just luck.

[bertusras]

An interesting bit of info regarding the rewards vouchers... the suppliers decide how many vouchers to make available and when to have them available. Take Cape Union Mart. They might release 100 vouchers. Once they are all claimed the option disappears. It may take 3 days or 3 months before they decide to allocate more vouchers. There is no set cycle

 

So at the end of the day it's just luck.

 

Yup, from what I've now figured Yuppiechef have a set number per month, so make sure that you check the app tomorrow if you want to get a voucher.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Mr Mayhem, just curious, am I right to assume that there are no repercussions for discovery clients that cancel vitality as long as they don't have things like life policies, but only medical aid?

I'm guessing yes, but don't know for sure. I'm starting to think Discovery wins mostly when a person signs up for vitality. They keep taking the same medical aid premiums, in spite of a presumably healthier member. In return the member gets some discounts that they have to juggle and work for most of the time.

May as well just pay the medical aid price and stick vitality to them if you're not doing it for gym/devices etc?

Correct. 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Make a deal with the devil, you never realize why it is such a good deal when you move over till something like this happens.

Oh well........

yeeeah, dude. I dunno about that eh. The up front discounts affect the policy years and years after you cancel vitality. And if you were on diamond before that, you quite literally cannot replace it like for like without either paying a ridiculous amount more, or jumping through the same hoops (albeit slightly differently) with Momentum. And on that side, you have to keep on doing it to keep the discount, or suffer an immediate increase in premium.

 

I have several clients who I've inherited, or signed up, who I've tried to coach through Vitality and get them to gold, but who are simply NOT interested. Come to review time (which is quite often) and I literally cannot in good conscience recommend a replacement policy with a different company, as the cost disparity is often quite significant. So ja, they're keeping you, but it isn't malicious. And their benefits are EXCELLENT (ito life cover and related benefits like severe illness etc) so you're kinda getting an excellent premium, with excellent cover, which can't be replicated elsewhere. That's not being locked in, it's just that in order to move away you'd be paying significantly more, for (sometimes) less. 

 

If the premiums were similar, and after removing vitality they weren't, THEN I could recommend a replacement. But, in 80-90% of cases, I can't. That's why I get wary when someone says they've been told it'd be better to move away from Disco or Momentum. 

Edited May 31, 2019 by Captain Fatbastard Mayhem

[CharlesZ]

I have a diamond that expires this week... I have two so I go and look to see what is available and just my luck, the only option is the voucher from Netflorist.

 

My question is, if your points/diamond expires this week, when do you need to spend them by? 

I had in a 12 week cycle only 1 diamond and you can't just use 1. So it had to expire and the following run of rewards you will get your normal reward if you achieve your goal and they give you n another play. A bit of a stupid rule but that's how they do it as I got 25 points for a diamond. 

 

Well at least I got now 2 diamonds in a row, lets hope I can get to 5 then Amashova or Argus here we come. 

[Frosty]

An interesting bit of info regarding the rewards vouchers... the suppliers decide how many vouchers to make available and when to have them available. Take Cape Union Mart. They might release 100 vouchers. Once they are all claimed the option disappears. It may take 3 days or 3 months before they decide to allocate more vouchers. There is no set cycle

 

So at the end of the day it's just luck.

So we need to keep looking out for each other?

[fanievb]

so my wife had the same issue when trying to claim vouchers ie. getting the "information is not available" error and thus unable to claim voucher despite it showing as available

call centre instruction is to uninstall and re-install the app.

just tested it and presto voucher claimed.

[samson99]

random question: where do you log a query if points were not awarded for an activity?

 

Thanks in advance

[mon-goose]

can them or via the web.

 

I got my first diamond today, doubt I'll actually be able to use it for anything as I probably won't get another one for a while