Israel’s Health Care Provides Universal Coverage and Better Outcomes than USA, Experts Say
From FORWARD:
…Israel spends slightly less than 8% of its GDP to achieve universal health care coverage, compared with 17.4% of the GDP in America for a system that leaves more than 40 million residents — one out of every eight residents — uninsured.
….Health care provision in Israel is made through not-for-profit health maintenance organizations. Six months after the Jewish state was established, in 1948, just 53% of the population had HMO insurance. Israel steadily increased its financial contribution to HMOs, making membership more affordable, and in 1973 it obliged employers to pay contributions toward employees’ policies.
But HMOs were still free to turn away people who they regarded as too high-risk, so in 1995, when 4% of the population was uninsured, the government made coverage universal by passing the National Health Insurance Law. It meant that everybody had the right — and obligation — to be covered by one of the country’s four not-for-profit HMOs. Residents of the country pay from income-related contributions collected through the tax system, which cover around 40% of HMOs’ costs. The state pays the remaining 60%.…
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