Be careful and make sure that you put your medical aid card in a safe place.

Be careful and make sure that you put your medical aid card in a safe place.

Mangaliso Mathebula has to pay medical bills and legal costs she incurred after her daughter, who is no longer a minor, used it.

Mathebula, who had not notified her daughter of her exclusion from her medical aid, blames the doctor for treating her daughter without seeking authorisation.

She hoped this would convince the doctor to write off the debt.

The doctor did not agree and instead enlisted the services of an attorney.

Had she honoured the R600 bill for her daughter's treatment she would have saved the R950 she now has to pay the attorneys.

lMembers and their dependants should know their rights, obligations and limits.

l Parents must also educate their children on the importance of membership and of what might befall the family if the card is used fraudulently or inappropriately.