FRIDAY THREAD: Discovery or Momentum Medical Aid

[ChrisF]

^ PS...had a friend in high school who’s dad had a hart attack/triple bypass. They did not have medical aid....and a hospital bill of a cool R1mil back then. It ruined them financially.

 

Going back some 20 years, my mom would go to Panorama MEdi Clinic, cardiac ICU for a few days, and another stent inserted ....  Even then these were some R50k+ accounts.

 

 

Buddy had a small incident while riding his motorcycle .... way more than R1M over the next two years.

 

 

 

 

2007 two motorcyclists collided in RooiEls.  (straight piece of road)  By the time we passed there the one was air lifted.  He recovered quickly.

 

The other one did not have medical aid .... he was laying on the tar for hours before a public ambulance picked him up, then many more hours for basic checkup and stabilisation.  Real treatment only happened the next week ..... spoke to his mom 6 months later, he was still not recovered properly !!

 

 

 

Sadly for a real chance at speedy treatment you need at least a "hospital plan".

 

 

AND - make sure your medical aid details is readily available if you are in an accident !!!!!

[Furbz]

I rent equipment to hospitals that in developed countries is seen as an essential.
We often assist surgeons in getting approvals from medical aids for this equipment as in South Africa it is seen as a luxury.
Long story short, Discovery agrees it forms a part of minimum benefit.
Profmed (administered by medscheme) needs a motivation and all after that often declines.

A side note: we also supply disposables to the hospital industry and each year when we apply for increases with Discovery we are first given lower than inflation and then have to fight often for months to get inflation. Taking into account time taken this negates the increase we fought for. They use their size and weight to bully suppliers into accepting this. If we do not accept, our products cannot be sold into hospitals as they are not "approved: and we as suppliers suffer.
Nevermind we pay in forex and have to take into account our supplier increases.
This practice is ensuring our margins have been slowly eroded over the years and is making doing business in the sector impossible.

It's only time before medical treatment in RSA becomes sub-standard.
I'd say as a country the private Healthcare sector might at best have 10 years left before you are better off leaving RSA for better safer treatment elsewhere.

We have discontinued many brilliant products over the last few years as they become unprofitable.

 

EDIT: fixed my terrible spelling. i posted this last night in the midsts of a migraine 

Edited October 1, 2020 by Furbz