New treatments for diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and cancer were among the drugs included in state-subsidized health baskets for 2021, the Health Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Annual additions to the basket – encompassing the entire range of medical services, drugs, equipment and devices that insured, permanent residents of Israel have a right to receive – are limited by a budget allocated by the Finance Ministry.
The total budget for the 2020 basket stood at approximately NIS 54.2 billion.
For 2021, an additional NIS 550 million were provided, up from NIS 500m. from last year, but still a very low figure, Mordechai Shani, a former Health Ministry director-general who helped establish the committee for priority in health back in 1988, told The Jerusalem Post prior to the announcement.
About 900 treatments valued at more than NIS 3.5b. were submitted for the consideration of a team of around 35 medical personnel and other health officials, and some 185 new drugs and technologies valued at around NIS 2b. were discussed. Only a fraction of them were ultimately approved.
The decisions are usually made by January 1, but this year the coronavirus crisis delayed the process.
According to the ministry, some 170,000 Israelis will benefit from the additional cures included in the basket.
New treatments and technologies recommended by the committee include drugs for chronic diseases, cardiovascular issues, diabetes, cancer, lung diseases, gastrointestinal and liver disease, ADHD, neurological disorders, diseases in the fields of rheumatology, urology, gynecology, nephrology, hematology, endocrinology and obesity. Additional opportunities were also added for mental health issues, genetic testing and dental health.
For the first time, chemo-integrated immunotherapy treatment was approved for patients with lung cancer. Molecular profile tests for cancerous tumors and new drugs for oncological patients carrying several forms of cancer – including breast cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, ovarian cancer, myelofibrosis, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and neuroendocrine tumors – were also approved.
“Any new drug that enters the basket is welcome, especially those for oncological patients,” the Israel Cancer Association commented. “However, we express our regret for the drugs and technologies left out of the basket, and we urge the prime minister and finance minister to provide a regular annual 2% increase in the health basket’s budget to allow some long-term planning, as we repeatedly asked in the past. This move would be essential for making optimal decisions on such a sensitive human and professional subject.”
New and groundbreaking drugs for patients with cystic fibrosis and cardiac amyloidosis were also included in the health basket, as well as pulmonary rehabilitation for those diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension and patients with bronchiectasis and the establishment of new lung rehabilitation institutes nationwide.
Furthermore, access to drugs for patients carrying type 2 diabetes was expanded.
The basket will now also provide for new tests for a survey to detect genetic diseases during pregnancy intended for diverse populations, including Jews of Ashkenazi, Ethiopian and Yemeni origins as well as Arab, Bedouin, Druze and Karaite populations.
Maayan Hoffman and Eytan Halon contributed to this report.