Rude awakening
I became a member of Affinity health on 2015/11/01. I chose the Affinity Health combined plan which means that I had the Day to Day benefits and Hospital Plan. After almost 3 years on 2018/08/30  I had severe abdominal pain and my wife took me to Arwyp Private Hospital at 5am in the morning. It was clearly an emergency. This was the first time I needed my health cover. The doctor on duty in the emergency room requested a sonar scan and the request was immediately rejected by Affinity Health. I had to sign several forms to say that I will pay for the scan myself. Affinity refused to refund this amount on the grounds that they do not pay for admissions for purely diagnostic purposes. This action defeats the purpose of Health cover. The final diagnosis and conformed treatment indicated an Appendicectomy. Affinity Health authorised R30 000 according to the applicable stated limit for this common procedure. The estimated shortfall was R119 309.62. I could not afford this amount and had no other alternative action suggestion by Affinity Health and ended up at Tembisa Hospital. I was so sick and did not anticipate this happening to me, who would think that there would be such a huge shortfall ? Is Affinity Health not aware of the cost of treatment ? Only at that moment I realized the predicament I was in. When you apply for health cover you are not made aware of these shortfalls. I joined under the impression that should I need help this would be taken care of by Healthcare professionals in private Hospitals. I did not expect that a Health cover provider can offer for you to go to a state Hospital. What is the point then of paying for Health cover? This event can be confirmed and I will on a daily basis review one of a trail of events leading up to the cancellation date of my health cover with Affinity Health after a period of 4 years during which time my contribution was paid on time every month. 