Healthy competition. Bar-On
Photo: Gil Yohanan
New HMO on the way
Social-financial cabinet approves creation of fifth health maintenance organization as part of government's plans to improve quality of health care
The social-financial cabinet decided Wednesday to form a fifth health maintenance organization (HMO) in order to increase the competition in public health care.
Four HMOs operate in Israel today: Maccabi, Clalit, Meuhedet and Leumit. Maccabi and Clalit are the two leading HMOs, carrying 80% of the patients.
The fifth HMO would be required to make its services available nationwide and it would be obligated to accept all those who wish to join it.
As a health care provider, the organization would be recognized as an HMO only if it has 40,000 registered members within a year of starting its operation and 130,000 members within three years.
The new HMO would be required – as are the other four – to operate clinics and hospitals, or make its service available through existing medical facilities.
Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On, who heads the social-financial cabinet, told Ynet that creating a new HMO is part of the government's plan to improve the quality of health care available to the public.
The cabinet further explained its decision by saying that the four existing HMOs are not in any real competition with each other, which may eventually waste public health funds. A fifth player, added Bar-On, might change that.
