Health Care System

The Israeli Health Care system is divided into three main sections -

1.The Ministry of Health

The Ministry of Health takes care of setting guidelines and policies for Israel's health care system. They are also involved in providing pre and post natal care. This assistance to mother and child are provided by the many Mother and Child clinics established across Israel. General operations, psychiatric treatments or psychiatric care and other long term medical treatments are also made available through their guidance. Apart from these services the Ministry of Health is also involved in providing health education and partial financial support for some of the services available under the National Health Insurance Law.

2.Health Maintenance Organizations or Non-profit Sick Funds

There are four major Health Maintenance Organizations that provide a number of medical services through clinics and specialist medical centers. However, the biggest Health Maintenance Organization which is called the General Health Fund and was formerly known as the Histadruk Sick Fund provides medical assistance with the help of its self-owned hospitals.

All these organizations tie-up with private institutions, hospitals and other private and public health service providers to offer better medical service to each of its members.

3.The National Insurance Institute

This institute is similar to the American Social Security Administration. They are in charge of providing health care services to disabled elderly members and for residents who are wounded in work-related or industrial accidents.

The health care system in Israel is sponsored by four main sources -

a.Membership Fees

b.Co-payments

c.Tax paid by Employers

d.Subsidies provided by the State Treasury Department

The Ministry of Finance sponsors most of these health insurances across Israel. They in-turn are financed by the people. There are two main sources of income for the Ministry of Finance. First is the membership money received from individuals that join one of the four Health Maintenance Organizations, these membership amounts are based on family status and income per household. The second, the government levied health tax on employers, this used to contribute approximately 30 % of the nation's total health care expenditure.

However, in 1996 the employer's health tax law was discontinued by the government. This gave rise to co-payments. Not many Israelis have been pleased with the co-payment option, as the costs of these co-payment services have been constantly on the rise.

A co-payment option is used by insurance companies around the globe for controlling moral dangers. Co-payment is usually a minimal amount paid by the person when seeking any medical assistance or service. This minimal amount is levied to avoid people from seeking medical assistance when it is not needed. This helps insurance companies save significant amount of money each year. The theory is that when something is absolutely ‘free' people will seek it even if it is not required, so co-payment acts as a check point in people's mind. The downfall to this method is that many times people do not seek medical assistance when it is required, to save the minimal co-pay amount.