"Obama's achievement is great at the moral level," said Assuta Medical Centers chairman Prof. Shuki Shemer, who helped design Israel's National Health Insurance Law, 5754-1994.
"The recognition of the duty of every citizen to buy health insurance is obvious to us in Israel, but in the world's superpower 20% of the population has not had any insurance until now. A pregnant woman can come to give birth without ever having seen a doctor. That's why this is a real revolution and a great step forward."
Shemer adds, however, that the US healthcare bill was a "only tactical measure", at least in its current phase, which expands health insurance to more of the US population. "Even after this reform, there will be many differences between different insured persons, and strong and wasteful private medicine. US employers will have to continue buying insurance, and Obama said during the crisis that many companies collapsed because they could not meet these payments."
Shemer points to the irony that while the Israeli National Health Insurance Law is undergoing steady disintegration, the Americans realized that they had to strengthen the public health system, which barely exists. "The Israeli system is good, but we cannot boast about it today, because many people can't buy medication because of the self-participation," he says.
Clalit Health Services insures 53% of all Israelis. Clalit CEO Eli Defes believes that one of the most important aspects of the US reform is the banning of preexisting conditions by insurance companies.
When asked what the US ought to learn from the Israeli model, he says, "Our system is very lean and efficient. In the US, the money goes to huge salaries and costs unrelated to health."
Defes adds that the designers of the US healthcare reform recently visited Israel, and were impressed by the computerization of Israeli health funds. "In the US, insurance companies refer policyholders to various services providers, and no one is connected to each other. In Israel, the family doctor sees in the computer exactly where you were hospitalized, what medications you received, and what treatments you undertook."
"Globes": What should the US learn from Israel?
Defes: "Not to turn into service providers themselves or become the owners of hospitals (as is the case in Israel). Regulation should let the power of the market do its thing."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 22, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010