Let my worries be your worries

The article “A worrier with a positive outlook” (Sunday Times Top 100 Companies supplement, November 11) made interesting and enlightening reading. I am sorry you are a worrier, Adrian Gore. I empathise with you. I, too, am a worrier. Mostly in the early hours of the morning when I worry about being able to afford my Discovery medical aid account.

Managing the options, which Discovery proudly says are numerous, is like being dumped in a maze with no light at the end of the tunnel.

As a pensioner, I am unable to afford the Rolls-Royce of options. Actually, even close to the best options. And I’m part of the refrain I hear everywhere: “My medical savings account runs out before October ...”

I wonder if your brilliant actuarial team has worked out that it is unlikely members will spend their gap cover amount before year-end so the top up by Discovery won’t kick in, which, of course, means that Discovery saves on outlaying money.

On a recent visit to Johannesburg, I was astounded to see the Discovery building in Sandton. It is a monument to enormous wealth. Huge profits are being made under the Discovery umbrella, and now Discovery is to open a bank. All of this at whose expense?

Spare a thought for the millions of members who are financially stretched, and, despite belonging to a medical aid, are having to find money to pay medical bills. Added to which some of us do not fit into the mould of living in a city and are therefore unable to choose doctors, dentists, chemists, and so on, affiliated to Discovery or to reap the benefits of the Vitality programme.

So, Mr Gore, I would like to think you will look in the mirror and add my worries to your worries.

Patricia Milliken, by e-mail