Health Ministry raises 2020 health basket by NIS 500 million
Litzman said that passing the budget was challenging given the current political paralysis.
By MAAYAN HOFFMANUnited Torah Judaism leader Yaakov Litzman(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The Ministries of Health and Finance increased the budget for next year’s health basket on Thursday by NIS 500 million.This is the fifth year in a row that the health budget has risen by around half a million shekels.“This is important news for anyone who is sick and for the health system in general,” Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman said. “I have made it clear all along that we would not be able to accept an increase of less than half a billion shekels.”Litzman said that passing the budget was challenging, given the current political paralysis.Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said, “The third election presents us with challenges in managing the state budget... We will continue to work with all the government ministries the way we did with the Health Ministry to ensure our citizens are not harmed as a result of the political plunder.”Israel’s health basket includes a range of subsidized medical services, drugs, equipment and devices for permanent residents of the State of Israel. In 2019, the total value of the Health Basket stood at approximately NIS 53.7b. Last year, the Health and Finance Ministries raised the health basket budget by NIS 460m.The health basket was established in its current form in 1994 as part of the National Health Law.Hadassah University Medical Center director-general Professor Ze’ev Rotstein has served as chair of the Health Basket Committee for 2020 since August.Previous reports indicated that Litzman was hoping to increase the 2020 basket by NIS 700m. In late October, Labor-Gesher introduced urgent legislation to increase the health basket by NIS 750m., but that legislation never moved forward.
