The beaurocracy strikes back
Discovery Health - a company I would seriously not recommend if you ever have to deal with South Africa in any way are doing their best to piss me off too much to write coherently. Now, ten years back, medical aid (medical insurance) was an agreeable luxury in SA. Private care was better than state care, but state hospitals were still, largely, going to cure you rather than kill you. Some were very good, although they were under strain. Now a decade on, with a combination of AIDS and neglect and corruption, our State system needs ICU itself. The Medical Aids - and indeed the private healthcare industry -- were keen on customer service once. Now... well, they've gone from a luxury to a much begrudged VERY expensive necessity. The industry has responded to the collapse of state healthcare by increases at around twice the rate of inflation. They've declared handsome profits and their executive pay would make the US banker with golden toilet rush off and order a matching bidet to prove he was nearly as well off. I think the fair term might be 'rampant profiteering' rather than 'gouging', but it certainly feels like the latter to most of us caught in their ever-upward spiral. I've been paying these dear people for more ten years, same method of payment, just increasing resentment at having to. They've grown to behemoth size and can't keep track of their payments. So they'd like me to make it easier for them. At my expense. And my time. Now, I don't mind making their lives easier, but at their expense, no matter how trivial that expense is. My response was thus 'sure, at the 54 cents the bank charges me.' Their response is that the way I pay them is not according to their rules and therefore they will suspend benefits unless I do it their way. Get Dave pissy. Ask their CEO Adrian Gore and his assistant Abi Adams why they accepted my payments for more than 10 years if it is against their rules. If it was accepted in error, I'll be very happy to have it back, and repay them the trivial amount they've expended on my behalf. They - oddly - don't seem to want to answer that, despite being asked twice, and being able to send me a snotty e-mail 'In terms of legislation, contributions may not be discounted.'
Grin. You have to laugh. 'discount'? DISCOUNT!?! "I got a bargain. 0.026% discount!' What a bunch of... The arrogance, take-it-or-leave-it has to seen to be believed.
The odd thing is that this is an industry in real deep trouble. Not only is the recession starting to bite (and it will be hard, here - mining is down 33%, industry IIRC 22%), but the SA Government has come up with a plan, which although it has as much chance of working as most of their plans, for a universal affordable healthcare. With levies from all of us. Now there are plenty saying it's unworkable. But there are a lot more saying 'so? what we've got now is workable?" I'd say 99.999% of the medical aid customer base want to see them at least whacked down to size no matter what happens in the end. It's a grudge payment as I said exploited by a group of people who know their customers have no real choice but to pay. Those outside the net, want the same level of services, and would very hard put to believe their inaffordability is due to anything but greed from particularly the Medical Aids (as that's the face they see) if they think about it all. We need the doctors (they can leave), and we need the hospitals (although they can't leave). So I'm betting the axe is going to start falling on Medical Aids as the scapegoats. All that could save them is member intervention and support. But they seem dead set on imitating the CEO's of the US motor corporations for arrogant stupidity when they went scrounging the first time. I conclude business executives are not quick learners. And I suppose I am not either because I let a bunch of ... irritate me out of writing. You're waiting for my next book? Thank Discovery Health.
Grin. You have to laugh. 'discount'? DISCOUNT!?! "I got a bargain. 0.026% discount!' What a bunch of... The arrogance, take-it-or-leave-it has to seen to be believed.
The odd thing is that this is an industry in real deep trouble. Not only is the recession starting to bite (and it will be hard, here - mining is down 33%, industry IIRC 22%), but the SA Government has come up with a plan, which although it has as much chance of working as most of their plans, for a universal affordable healthcare. With levies from all of us. Now there are plenty saying it's unworkable. But there are a lot more saying 'so? what we've got now is workable?" I'd say 99.999% of the medical aid customer base want to see them at least whacked down to size no matter what happens in the end. It's a grudge payment as I said exploited by a group of people who know their customers have no real choice but to pay. Those outside the net, want the same level of services, and would very hard put to believe their inaffordability is due to anything but greed from particularly the Medical Aids (as that's the face they see) if they think about it all. We need the doctors (they can leave), and we need the hospitals (although they can't leave). So I'm betting the axe is going to start falling on Medical Aids as the scapegoats. All that could save them is member intervention and support. But they seem dead set on imitating the CEO's of the US motor corporations for arrogant stupidity when they went scrounging the first time. I conclude business executives are not quick learners. And I suppose I am not either because I let a bunch of ... irritate me out of writing. You're waiting for my next book? Thank Discovery Health.