Discovery Health
Huge self-payment gap, no chronic meds, no optical

So because I went into a self-payment gap last year, I went onto a higher plan with Discovery this year, namely Essential Comprehensive. My wife and I both have to use a range of prescription meds, and since Discovery has outright declined to regard ANY of those as chronic meds (even though our GP regards them as such), there's no special dispensation from our medical aid. I upgraded to the higher plan and sure, my "savings" account was R3000 bigger, but the "self-payment gap" literally doubled to over R12 800. And guess what? When I got my first new pair of glasses in five years, the entire cost came straight out of my savings account. No separate optical benefits at all, and the savings account is empty, four months into the year. I resent having no choice but to be on this scheme. I feel like Discovery is me, and I suspect I will have more money in the bank each month if I wasn't on a medical scheme at all. It's so strange -- I pay Discovery thousands of rands per month, and yet I feel like I'm begging them for assistance. That's just not right!