In the video: Women took disability benefits amounting to millions of shekels while they were recorded exercising and dealing drugs/National Insurance spokeswoman
In 12 years from now, will we wake up to a day without National Insurance benefits?
Without payments of disability benefits, nursing, alimony, unemployment, childbirth, children and more?
Last week, the Mossad warned through its actuarial report (forecast) about the future and raised a red flag just before the collapse. According to the report, already in 2036, the National Insurance will not be able to finance the full rights due to the public according to law.
The report, which is published every three years, predicts that from 2030, the National Insurance is expected to be forced to make an early redemption of part of the fund, an amount estimated at billions of shekels, and by 2036 - the fund is expected to be completely depleted. In the previous forecast there was a warning of collapse in 2045 and now the forecast has been updated nine years earlier.
National Insurance Institute Ashdod/Reuven Castro
"We receive tens of thousands of shekels from National Insurance, without which it would be very difficult for us to continue raising the children," said Lavala!
Avi Cohen, father of 5 children from Ashkelon, two of whom are severely disabled.
"Yehuda is my oldest son who was born with cerebral palsy and also deals with epilepsy. 8-year-old Avishag also has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and blindness. We have a lot of expenses for therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapy, speech therapists and more when every such treatment costs us NIS 400. We drive them to the hospitals, everywhere and lose days of work. We were also in more difficult situations in the past when the allowances were lower, and it wasn't enough."
Cohen is also active in the LIAN organization (for disabled children). He emphasizes that there is also difficulty in finding a job as a father with a severe disability and according to him he often found himself "traveling" between jobs because the employers did not understand his situation
. Any work is very difficult.
Because of the many absences and the medical condition of my children who require a lot of attention and treatments, I learned a lot about my flesh," he explained. "If the allowances are damaged or disappear, there will be a serious problem here.
People call me and cry on the phone for help and I have no way to help them anymore, my heart is torn.
We know that allowances come in like clockwork all the time and it's air to breathe, but if it stops, what will happen?
It will affect everyone.
The situation will be catastrophic because even today the allowances are not enough.
Today, people live from hand to mouth, keep a foreign worker, keep a disabled car, many medicines and special food, so how can you keep everything without the National Insurance benefits?"
More in Walla!
The intriguing process of recycling metal packaging
In cooperation with the Tamir Recycling Corporation
The Cohen family/courtesy of those photographed
"Even today it's not enough"
73-year-old Shalom Kutcher and his 76-year-old wife Rachel live in Holon.
They are in nursing condition and confined to a wheelchair and have two foreign workers.
According to Shalom, they pay tens of thousands of shekels a month for the help and are often forced to choose between food, medicine or just having fun with friends and they are also worried about what the future holds.
Kutcher told painfully that for a week he was looking for a foreign worker for him and his wife, which put him in a particularly difficult situation.
"He is reluctant to come to us, because of our complex situation," he told Walla!.
"We didn't get out of bed for a week because I had no one to help us. It was a terrible week that I won't forget for the rest of my life. We pay NIS 22,000, I don't get that amount from National Insurance even now, and if they touch the benefits it will be a death sentence for us." .
He continued to share problems at home.
"Today is already not enough. We go out less so that we can pay our expenses. The health situation is not improving and is getting worse, I am taking loans from the children as well, just to live. It would be better if they hang us in the city square and we are done. These are not lives. We live with suffering Physically and financially very difficult."
Shalom and Rachel Kutcher/courtesy of those photographed
Prof. Asher Blas, the former chief economist at the Bank of Israel and a lecturer at Ashkelon College, thinks that one of the reasons that led to the alarming conclusion in the National Insurance report is the dramatic increase in nursing allowances. "For the past 7 years, the National Insurance has allowed nursing allowances in a very liberal and excessive manner," he explained Prof. Blass. "In the past, this was given in addition to the old age pension and in order to receive the pension, the patient had to be 'right on the boards' and needed a close caregiver.
So there was public criticism of it.
Since then, the National Insurance decided to change the situation and today they give the allowances to almost everyone who applies.
Jumping from NIS 8 billion to NIS 15 billion a year that is paid to Israeli citizens in nursing allowances, that's too much."
According to Prof. Blass, today more nursing allowances are paid than military pensions. "When you look at the number of people over the age of 65 who receive an allowance from the insurance Nationally, the rate is much higher than any other country in the world and it is very worrying.
In the past, the percentage of old people was lower, but today life expectancy is longer and pensions are also granted to 70-75 year olds.
It will not be possible to maintain such a situation for a long time," he warned.
Prof. Blass thinks that it is necessary to ensure that those who really need these funds receive them. "A person in nursing care should be a person who cannot get out of bed.
You have to comply with what is required and not believe anyone.
It is unlikely that the number of people receiving long-term care allowance has doubled in recent years.
In my opinion, the promoting social policy has a price and we are in a problem.
If there is very high growth in the economy, it will be possible to maintain it, but there is great doubt if this will happen, especially during the war.
When money is shared, everyone lives better.
I don't know if this can happen in today's reality," stressed the senior economist. "I also don't know if there won't be cuts as promised, but it is possible that they will cut the children's allowances to finance the nursing allowances.
The question is whether this is the desired situation.
Something here has to change.
Some population here could be harmed."
Prof. Asher Blass/Noam Feiner
Doron Raz, chairman of the Association of Nursing Service Providers in Israel, also commented on the gloomy forecast and said: "According to estimates by state officials, about 50% of the elderly who received financial benefits - did not use the money to treat those entitled to the Nursing Law, and that is what the money was intended for.
The National Insurance did the right thing in that it tried to make it easier for the elderly in Israel to a certain extent and changed the dependency tests, but on the other hand, it also loosened all reins and allowed people to receive money instead of comprehensive treatment.
The situation of the elderly in Israel in terms of financial security is difficult, so any additional income is acceptable.
However, no one knows where the money went and it is impossible to really know what will be done with it.
The state is largely missing the ability to keep people at home and save millions for the state.
There is an interest in the elderly staying at home and not in the hospital.
As soon as they say 'take money' it's tempting and therefore the possibility of monetary compensation should be limited and they should be invested more in treatments."
Doron Raz, Chairman of the Association of Nursing Service Providers in Israel/courtesy of the photographs, the Association of Nursing Service Providers in Israel
In the last week, the National Insurance has been trying to calm the situation.
"It should be remembered that in 2018 the then Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon passed a nursing reform. We all remember the articles and the humiliation of the elderly in Israel, about the difficult tests they would undergo and their people would only receive assistance on their deathbeds," explained a senior official at the National Insurance Institute to Walla!.
According to the senior, there used to be 3 levels in nursing, now there are 6 and people today start receiving the allowance from the moment of the initial deterioration in order to provide an answer and immediate assistance.
"The State of Israel is one of the countries where people live the longest, and the average age today is 84," continued the official in the explanation.
"We live longer than most OECD countries and when a person lives longer - we pay more. In the past, people did not exhaust their rights because the nursing allowance was split between the Ministry of Welfare, the local government, the health insurance funds, and the National Insurance. Now everything is in one place and there are no more worries The people and everyone gets their rights. It should be mentioned that before the reform, those who received a nursing allowance lived in poverty. Today they are above it. Nursing allowances have a low income threshold and those who receive them are the weakest people in society. Not everyone can receive them."
So what is the solution?
Another team.
"We will set up a team together with the Ministry of Finance and come up with some solutions," said the senior official at the Mossad.
"We will demand the funds we deserve from the Ministry of Finance, which is estimated at between 300-250 billion shekels. Perhaps the retirement age should also be increased. We are against offsetting benefits and so is the Minister of Labor of this opinion. People have paid all their lives and they will receive the money. In a period of extreme benefits, until Today we all remember in the corridors of the National Insurance the people who used to come and beg for help. We were helpless and told people no. Why? Because that's how they decided. It was a dark time and we will do everything to not get there," she promised.
More on the same topic:
Social Security
NII
allowances
Nursing