"It will be a disaster if we begin including services into the basket by raising the health tax," a Ministry of Finance official told "Globes" on Friday. Nonetheless, in the ministerial legislative committee yesterday, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz voted in favor of a private member's bill by MK Haim Oron (Meretz) to raise the health tax by 0.3%, in order to cover nursing care by the state healthcare basket.
Ministry of Finance sources said that they still objected to the bill, but agreed to support it, after Oron and Deputy Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman agreed to suspend the legislation after the prereading by the Knesset plenum, until agreement is reached with the Ministry of Finance.
The Ministry of Finance today said that it was necessary to discuss the issue with the insurance companies, since including the entire nursing system, as Litzman wants to do, could "kill the private market".
A Ministry of Finance official said that the insurance companies provide a living for thousands of families, and that the government should balance its need and duty to provide services itself, and its obligation to allow the private sector to exist and grow. The source added that the government could just as easily provide earthquake insurance tomorrow.
The Ministry of Finance greatly esteems Oron, but ministry officials doubt whether he made actuarial estimates before submitting his bill. Ministry officials said that life expectancy was lengthening, and that raising the health tax by 0.5% might suffice today, but might not be enough in 20 years. At that point would new demands be made to raise the tax? The Ministry of Finance wants to hold a debate on this issue to find the right formula.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 31, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011