Bill to strengthen the public health system

A bill to strengthen the public health system was table on Tuesday by Hadash MK Dov Henin and supported by MKs Orly Levy-Abecassis (Likud Beteinu), Ilan Gillon (Meretz) and United Torah Judaism MK Ya’acov Litzman – from both the coalition and the opposition.

A protest against Sharap in Beer-Sheva (Photo: Physicians for Human Rights)

A protest against Sharap in Beer-Sheva (Photo: Physicians for Human Rights)

The bill calls for providing geriatric nursing care to which families would not have to contribute; cancellation of financial participating by the elderly and the chronically ill; automatic annual updating by two percent of the basket of health services; allowing patients to choose their doctors at no cost in the public system; demographic updating of the health budget; forbidding the four public health funds from owning for-profit companies; updating the health cost-of-living index; barring Sharap (private services) in public hospitals; and expanding free basic dental care to children up to the age of 18. In exchange, more funds for health services would be raised by increasing health taxes by 1% to a total of 6% and restoring the employers’ “parallel tax” for healthcare equal to 2% of employees’ wages, which was cancelled nearly 20 years ago. Cooperating in preparing the bill were the Physicians for Human Rights, the Adva Center and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Private medical services, popularly known by the Hebrew acronym Sharap, would no longer be permitted at government hospitals if the recommendations of a committee headed by Health Minister Yael German are adopted. The panel released its conclusions Wednesday. Eliminating Sharap, which had been under fire as depleting the public health system, was the most dramatic of a series of proposals.  Sharap was introduced by neo-liberal managers with the idea of allowing people to choose their own doctors, in exchange for additional payment on top of health insurance premiums. But as spending on public health lagged and access to doctors grew more difficult, Sharap evolved into a way for people who could afford it to “jump the line” and arrange to see a physician or schedule operations sooner than people who relied solely on the public health system.