A meeting between Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) chairman Avi Nissenkorn and senior Ministry of Finance officials headed by Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen ended yesterday evening in understandings that will allow the removal of the threatened general strike. The understandings are based on three main components. The first is an initial agreement in principle that will allow implementation of a long-term collective care agreement (for a person's lifetime). The second component is a commitment by the State to form overall policies for the issue of nursing care insurance (for the three levels of care available today for care coverage national insurance, health funds and private insurance). RELATED ARTICLES Regulator backtracks on collective long-term care policies Histadrut threatens strike over long-term care One of the main ideas proposed in this context by the Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman is to increase health tax by an overall NIS 2 billion annually so that the State can finance care insurance for all its citizens - instead of private insurance. The third component agreed upon in the latest arrangements includes temporary insurance, which will be extended for an additional year in order to avoid a situation in which temporary insurance expires without an appropriate alternative providing care insurance for workers without coverage. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 23, 2016 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2016
