The assumption of Hanna Ziady’s article "Adverse Side Effects" (Features, May 10-16) about why doctors dislike Discovery doesn’t go far enough. I can assure you that many Discovery members too are dissatisfied with the company. Aside from its focus on consumer goodies (and blatant exploitation of its health channel to cross-sell other products), the technical quality of its health services is appalling. One example: it claims to support prescribed minimum benefits [but] cost-cuts to the point that this coverage is deeply flawed. So if you have bloods taken for cholesterol checks and are found to need medication, the company will not pay for the second blood test to check whether the medications are working until a year has passed. So, textual compliance yes, good medicine no. And I could provide many more examples of the same. The failure to pay for complete procedures is cunningly disguised by the use of a "savings account". This is simply a con in which customers provide the compa...
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