In the middle-class story of the holidays, what made Discovery Health's reimbursement error utterly bizarre was that it publicly defended its flawed legal stance when it never had a case.

I'm not sure how your first day back at the office was, or whether it was today or last week. But I am almost certain that the vibe in your office right now is better than what's going on at the top of that shiny Discovery edifice in Sandton.

It is extraordinary that an organisation as media savvy as Discovery Health has so completely messed up a simple problem.

In case you were away, or simply felt Sandton should be ignored during the break, the story is pretty simple.

Right before Christmas Discovery Health emailed about 16,000 of its members, saying it had made a mistake with the way it had reimbursed their pharmacy expenses.

Instead of the scheme implementing the normal limit for those costs, those members had been reimbursed. Now, Discovery Health wanted the money back. In fact, it was already taking steps.

The affected members would not be reimbursed for their medical costs until the difference had been made up.

You can imagine the feeling.

You skip into your pharmacy at the start of January, only to find that you are liable for all of your costs for probably the whole year. And you are expected to...