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

[Craai]

Yes, but the exact same argument can be made for building, content and car insurance, even medical aid as a hole. Every insurance is a lot of money in hindsight, but again, who can afford to up and replace a house or a car.

 

Friend of mine had a mtb accident, first bill was 140k, medical and gap covered all of it, and that's just bill 1,its 4 months of recovery, therapy and all that **** that they are going to pay for.

 

So sure over the years you spend a lot of money, but the cost of decent treatment in this country, 1 accident and all your savings and a **** lot more are gone.

 

Like that 24k,someone punches u hard enough on the face and that won't even cover the cat scan.

 

10 years ago I had 1 and it was 20k, I shudder to think what they cost now.

 

My mother just had 2 eye ops, it was 11k per op, 11k for the hospital and 5k for drugs dude, that's 54k and she has been on med for 1 year at 1.6k per month. So assuming I saved that 1.6k instead even with interest I have not paid for 1 eye, let alone both.

Agree with this; as another example. My wife (then fiancé) only went on my medical aid (and life insurance with dread disease cover) on my insistence. She was on life insurance for barely 3 months when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Just the chemo and radiation treatments alone racked up R200k of medical bills in 6 months and that’s excluding oncologists, fitment of a port, various odds and ends.

I’m guessing the final number was +- R400k.

[bertusras]

Yes, but the exact same argument can be made for building, content and car insurance, even medical aid as a hole. Every insurance is a lot of money in hindsight, but again, who can afford to up and replace a house or a car.

 

Friend of mine had a mtb accident, first bill was 140k, medical and gap covered all of it, and that's just bill 1,its 4 months of recovery, therapy and all that **** that they are going to pay for.

 

So sure over the years you spend a lot of money, but the cost of decent treatment in this country, 1 accident and all your savings and a **** lot more are gone.

 

Like that 24k,someone punches u hard enough on the face and that won't even cover the cat scan.

 

10 years ago I had 1 and it was 20k, I shudder to think what they cost now.

 

My mother just had 2 eye ops, it was 11k per op, 11k for the hospital and 5k for drugs dude, that's 54k and she has been on med for 1 year at 1.6k per month. So assuming I saved that 1.6k instead even with interest I have not paid for 1 eye, let alone both.

 

Yup, if the past 5 weeks have taught me anything it's to have appropriate insurances in place.

 

I was in the same camp as Frosty, and felt like this was a huge amount of money I'm throwing away each month as I'm very healthy, rarely buy medication, etc. etc. And then I fell through the roof of a Jojo tank and fractured my hip and elbow. R130K for the hospital account, and still weeks of rehab that lies ahead. Would not have been able to afford these expenses out of pocket, well, that's a lie. I would have, but would have done irreversible damage to years of savings.

[Pure Savage]

I have been waiting 3 weeks for vitality check to come through. Discovery says I now need to either go back to sister or email her to get results. What a joke.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I have been waiting 3 weeks for vitality check to come through. Discovery says I now need to either go back to sister or email her to get results. What a joke.

Dischem? If so, that's par for the course unfortunately. Waited just over 3 for my results.

[Twaatie]

I have been waiting 3 weeks for vitality check to come through. Discovery says I now need to either go back to sister or email her to get results. What a joke.

Dischem? If so, that's par for the course unfortunately. Waited just over 3 for my results.

I just go to clicks. They mail you and discovery a Copy of the results at the same time

[Craai]

I just go to clicks. They mail you and discovery a Copy of the results at the same time

Alternatively, if you are close to a Vitality store, just do it there; you normally get the results within the hour

[bertusras]

Dischem? If so, that's par for the course unfortunately. Waited just over 3 for my results.

 

Really? I've been to a Discovery Store the past two years, but in the past I had no issues, and the fiance is still going to Dischem and her stuff is usually showing by the time she gets back in the office.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Really? I've been to a Discovery Store the past two years, but in the past I had no issues, and the fiance is still going to Dischem and her stuff is usually showing by the time she gets back in the office.

Granted we had 'em in office, but yeah. Took that long to reflect. 

[The Ouzo]

Stratum / Zest are the ones I deal with for good reason (we found they were the best of the bunch ito admin from the ones we've tried)

 

Just check the terms and conditions surrounding payment of claims if they determine it's a PMB. Stratum and Zest will cover, but fight with the med aid to get something that they believe is a PMB, covered as a PMB. Some just flat out exclude any claim that is a PMB, even though there may still be a gap somewhere. 

I've always had good service from Zest (they used to be something else before zest took them over), and initially they were cheap enough to be a no brainer to take. But they've been hicking pricing up substantially to the point where I'm now looking at other options.

 

How does the Discovery Gap cover options compare?

[JJ]

I've always had good service from Zest (they used to be something else before zest took them over), and initially they were cheap enough to be a no brainer to take. But they've been hicking pricing up substantially to the point where I'm now looking at other options.

 

How does the Discovery Gap cover options compare?

 

My Discovery broker/financial adviser told me to rather look elsewhere for gap cover... says a lot.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I've always had good service from Zest (they used to be something else before zest took them over), and initially they were cheap enough to be a no brainer to take. But they've been hicking pricing up substantially to the point where I'm now looking at other options.

 

How does the Discovery Gap cover options compare?

It doesn't, and it won't ever. It works very well with docs who are on their network, and the claims submission is seamless and pain free, but the actual level of coverage is far lower. 

 

I still don't recommend it. 

 

EDIT: Oh, and the increased premiums are across the board, unfortunately. It's as a result of more people finding out they can use it, and more specialists finding out their patients have it, so they charge at those higher rates 'cos with Gap Cover, you're not fighting to get the payment out of the client when he may not have that sort of disposable cash. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

[ridr]

My Discovery broker/financial adviser told me to rather look elsewhere for gap cover... says a lot.

My broker told me the same thing and recommended Turnberry.

[The Ouzo]

It doesn't, and it won't ever. It works very well with docs who are on their network, and the claims submission is seamless and pain free, but the actual level of coverage is far lower. 

 

I still don't recommend it. 

 

EDIT: Oh, and the increased premiums are across the board, unfortunately. It's as a result of more people finding out they can use it, and more specialists finding out their patients have it, so they charge at those higher rates 'cos with Gap Cover, you're not fighting to get the payment out of the client when he may not have that sort of disposable cash. 

Thanks

Claiming from Zest has been seamless in the past, I've been pretty happy with them.

But got a rates increase notification on saturday and thought I'd start looking around, last night I hit the "get a quote button" on the disco app for gap cover, just havent had the chance to sit and compare the coverage between Zest and Disco options.

 

But if you are saying stick to Zest then I probably will, their track record has been good.

 

B.T.W. when I joined them I was paying R99 p/m , yes I've added some dependents etc. but I'm now paying just over R500 p/m

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Thanks

Claiming from Zest has been seamless in the past, I've been pretty happy with them.

But got a rates increase notification on saturday and thought I'd start looking around, last night I hit the "get a quote button" on the disco app for gap cover, just havent had the chance to sit and compare the coverage between Zest and Disco options.

 

But if you are saying stick to Zest then I probably will, their track record has been good.

 

B.T.W. when I joined them I was paying R99 p/m , yes I've added some dependents etc. but I'm now paying just over R500 p/m

yeah, they were cheap in the beginning. All gap policies were, but as more people claimed, their actuarial models needed to change accordingly. That's where we are, now. And it's not worth saving R50 p/m by moving. If it was R200 per month, yeah fine. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

[Frosty]

Anyone who says that the Vitality Active Rewards system on Discovery is not worth is, consider this for a happy 2019:

 

4 diamonds got me these - I used my voucher today:

 

5 diamonds got my wife a weekend stay at Sun City, which we're using this time next month.

 

R2500 worth of vouchers added to a Cape Union Mart gift card.

 

R500 on a Incredible voucher - which didn't want to work yesterday (how ironic)

 

My daughters 10.2" tablet for school, next year, has been fully funded by miles.

[Veebee]

I also just got back like 20 mins ago from spending my 4 diamonds also at Sunglass hut, combined with their 20% off for the weekend it was a great deal.