At a press conference yesterday with Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Avi Nissenkorn, and Deputy Minister of Finance Rabbi Yitzhak Cohen, Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon presented a new national nursing care plan.
"I have just finished talking with the prime minister, and he endorsed the plan and said it was the right way. This nursing care crisis is one of the biggest I have ever seen. As in many crises, we are coming to this one after years of criminal negligence. They left tens of thousands of senior citizens to their fate. We are making one promise: not to leave any citizen without nursing coverage. This is the generation that built the country. We have a duty to them, and we will not abandon them."
Litzman said that he wanted to thank the minister of finance. "He never said, 'I haven't got any money,' after which NIS 20 billion suddenly appeared in the treasury. Treatment will be better, the hours will be better, and with the help of God, there will be health."
Nissenkorn said, "We are completing a state nursing care insurance plan. We can say that Israel has revolutionized its nursing care. Within a short time, nursing care patients will have an allowance of NIS 5,000, and anyone who wants to employ an Israeli worker can get an incentive for nursing care hours, and the employee will receive a wage supplement to pay him for the hard work that he does.
"The first installment of the increase in the allowance to NIS 4,000 will go into effect on March 1, 2018. I want to thank the minister of finance, who has shown again and again that he is a social minister, because it is in his soul. It starts with the minimum wage and continues with the allowances for disabled people. What has been promised with the disabled - NIS 4.2 billion - will be kept."
Nissenkorn included in his thanks Capital Market Authority head Dorit Salinger, saying that her insistence on terminating collective insurance policies had in the end led to a solution.
"Tomorrow is a new day in Israel"
Ministry of Health director general Moshe Bar Siman Tov summed up by saying that the plan included several basic elements:
An increase in home nursing care hours - the maximum will be raised from 22 to 30 hours.
House calls by doctors and nurses will eliminate the need to move to institutions.
Deductible of family members will be canceled.
Treatment will be continuous and synchronized by the national health system, health funds, and the Ministry of Health.
Basic dental treatment will be provided for senior citizens over 75, and rehabilitative dental treatment will be provided with a deductible amount to be determined according to the senior citizen's income.
Siman Tov thanked Nir Kedar, economy manager at the Ministry of Health, whom he called "the person who dreamed of and guided this plan."
Salinger, who sparked the change by deciding to cancel collective health insurance policies, said, "In the solution launched today, there is an answer for every Israeli. It provides a very substantial and proper basic level for the individual, and we are responsible for the second level through the health funds.
"The important news is that an unfit product that did not serve the purpose for which it was designed will no longer be marketed. Tomorrow is a new day in Israel."
Ministry of Finance Budget Department deputy manager for macroeconomic affairs Yogev Gradus said that the plan would be included in the discussion of the 2018-2019 budget. The plan is to increase the budget by NIS 1 billion, starting in 2019. The allocation for 2018 has not yet been determined. "When fully implemented, the plan will cost NIS 1.5 billion, and is projected to increase by 5% a year," he stated.
Under the plan, people over 60 will be given coverage from the health funds regardless of their state of health, without the funds having the option to refuse to provide coverage. The health funds' level will cover from NIS 3,500 to NIS 5,000. When combined, the two levels will completely cover the cost of nursing care for a senior citizen.
Commenting on the nursing care plan, MK Itzik Shmuli (Zionist Union), who led the Knesset struggle for nursing care, said "The plan is a first step in the right direction, and I am glad that after four years of struggle, they have adopted positive and important elements of my bill."
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on November 21, 2017
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