From the Liveblog of
Thursday, November 2, 2023
War costs Israel’s HMOs another NIS 200 million per month
Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
The ongoing war is costing Israel’s health maintenance organizations an additional NIS 200 million ($50.2 million) per month. This adds to the financial woes of the four HMOs, which were already facing a combined deficit of NIS 3 billion ($929 million) for 2023.
Knesset Health Committee chair Yoni Mashriki has called on the Health Ministry and Finance Ministry to cover the irregular expenses resulting from the war to protect the availability and quality of the healthcare provided to Israelis. Mashriki has asked the government to immediately advance payments to the HMOs to cover their unusually high cash flow needs.
In a Health Committee meeting earlier this week, representatives of the HMOs reported that they are dealing with unexpected additional expenses resulting from the need to boost infrastructure, add protected spaces to facilities, and increase equipment and supply inventories. The organizations are also shifting to more at-home care and online services, enhancing security, and adding operational hours requiring more human resources.
Some of the unforeseen expenditures are the result of the HMOs having quickly set up clinics in locations where evacuated and displaced citizens are temporarily being housed, such as Eilat, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Kibbutz Shefayim in central Israel.
