An Introduction

Israel maintains high standards today in providing medical services to its citizens. It has all the modern amenities in its hospitals to cater to the people's growing medical needs. Not only are the hospitals very modern but Israel also has a remarkably high doctor to population ratio. All Israelis can avail for a uniform health care benefit package from the government which they can use through a small number of organizations that are funded by the Israeli government.

Due to the easy public access and major achievements in the health care field, Israel's health care system is regarded as on of the worlds finest. The responsibility of developing this advanced health care system sits with the Ministry of Health. They govern the operational and management aspect of the health care system from the public's and government's point of view. Many of the large hospitals in Israel are owned and operated by the government.

There are four health insurance companies that are funded by the government to provide health care benefits to its people. These are also known as "sick funds."

The four companies are -

1.Kupat Holim Clalit

2.Kupat Holim Leumit

3.Kupat Holim Maccabi

4.Kupat Holim Meuhedet

The largest among these is the Kupat Holim Clalit also known as "General Sick fund." This was one of the first health insurance organizations that was started by a group of agricultural workers in 1911. However, in 1920, the Hisdarut or General Federation of Labor took over this organization.

Health care was always one of the key issues in Israel ever since the state of Israel was formed in 1948. This was also the year when the Mandatory Department of Health was replaced by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health then took over all the functional hospitals from its predecessor and also increased its services by building more hospitals and providing new services such as mother and child health care centers. They also decided to share the cost of a bed with the patients in the hospitals. While this was being done for the civilians, a new IDF Medical Corps was created to cater to the needs of the Israeli Defense Forces.

The problem faced by the Israeli government in 1948 was that even though they had started expanding their medical services, 53% of Jews still remained without any Health care service. In addition, the constant population rise from 0.6 million to 1.2 million in two years was making things even more difficult. However, in the coming years the government persistently increased its health care packages and by the end of a decade, when the population was at 2.1 million, Israel had provided health care packages to approximately 90% of its population.

With time things only got better for the Israeli people as the government implemented laws to protect them. In 1973 the government passed a special law which made it mandatory for all employers to make their workers take part in a medical insurance package. This was to be done by paying directly to the Health Maintenance Fund where the workers became members.