A report published today (Wednesday) by the Department for the Supervision of Health Insurance Funds in the Ministry of Health, which deals with the financial management of the health insurance funds, presents a very dismal situation for the health insurance funds in Israel: the health insurance funds ended the year 2021, the second year of the corona epidemic, with record deficits of NIS 6.941 billion. For comparison, in 2020 the deficit of all funds was 5.6 billion and in 2019 at 3.649 billion.
The Ministry of Health explains that the increase in the deficit in the last two years was caused by the corona virus: the general CPF had a deficit of about NIS 3.8 billion, the Maccabi CPF had a deficit of about 1.6 billion, the United CPF had a deficit of about 785 million and the Leumit CPF with a deficit of about 636 million.
Maccabi.
"The situation is difficult",
After support funds in the amount of approximately 7 billion NIS that the Ministry of Health transferred to the health funds in 2021, the funds had a surplus of approximately 82 million NIS, but the second year of the corona and its long-term effects, led them again to large deficits in 2022.
Of the amount of support from the Ministry of Health: about NIS 2.7 billion is support for the expenses of the corona, for example: reinforcement of personnel to treat corona patients, emergency centers to answer questions, treatment centers for those isolated and sick, providing information to the insured regarding the ways of dealing with the corona, building infrastructure For the provision of remote medical services, performing tests to identify infected people, ongoing operations regarding the corona virus, activation of a vaccination system, and more.
general
"The supports are not enough", photo: Yossi Zeliger
Prof. Nachman Ash, Director General of the Ministry of Health: "Medicine in the community is a significant and vital pillar in the public health system.
This has changed in the last three years, when the world faced the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, when the health system, including the health insurance funds, shows an impressive capacity.
The financial situation of the health funds in Israel is extremely worrying.
The report shows that without the Corona support in 2021, the HMOs would have had even deeper deficits. Therefore, we at the Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and together with the HMOs, need to act in order to address the deep deficits of the HMOs reflected in the interim data for 2022, so that they can To continue to provide good medicine in the community. At the same time, the system's ability to respond to a crisis during an emergency is awe-inspiring. I thank the teams of the health organizations and the employees of the Ministry of Health who work day and night to allow such an important system to continue to operate with dedication, amidst difficult challenges."
united
The report shows a difficult situation, photo: Gideon Markovich
Lior Barak, Deputy Director of Health Insurance Supervision: "Medicine in the community is one of the pillars of medicine in Israel.
Every citizen meets community medicine at least several times a year, and therefore we see great importance in maintaining the professional level and for the need to improve services and long-term planning, as well as the financial stability of the health funds."
Klalit's health insurance company reported: Klalit ended the year 2021 with a budget balance as required of it, a balance it reached as a result of budgeting that corresponds to the additional costs derived as a result of the corona epidemic, but the general year 2022 is expected to end with a deficit. In the long term, when morbidity is not at its peak, there is an effect on
We need to prepare accordingly.
On the one hand, the state expects the fund to continue to provide the same service, but on the other hand, it budgets the funds with a lower budget, which creates deficits in all the health funds for 2022."
Maccabi Health Insurance Fund: "The 2021 comparative report shows a picture that is not representative of the state of the health insurance funds.
The reasons for this are, on the one hand, a change in the mix of service consumption due to the Corona epidemic and, on the other hand, considerable support funds received from the state.
Already in 2022 we see a completely different situation when the support funds have ended and the demand for services has returned to normal and even beyond that, when evidence of this can be seen in the increase in waiting times.
As long as the Israeli government does not make a decision on increasing the budgets of the health insurance funds to the required extent, unfortunately we will see continued erosion of the health services in the community along with an increase in the deficits of the health insurance funds."
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