Israeli patients will be left without drugs due to huge budget gap
Health Appropriations Committee announces it requires treatments worth NIS 2.5 billion to properly care for patients, but only given NIS 300 million from state - only 10% of funding it actually requires.
After a many months long filtering process that included weighing what drugs are needed to treat Israel's sick, the Health Appropriations Committee has announced it requires treatments and medication worth NIS 2.5 billion to properly treat patients, yet it has only has been given a state-funded budget of NIS 300 million - about 10% of the budget it actually needs.
The budget gap came as no surprise for those working in the health industry – each year the committee members are faced with the difficult dilemma of choosing which drugs the state will foot the bill for, but this time the issue has spiraled due to a small number of new, breakthrough drugs that are exceptionally expensive and could deplete the already tight budget. These new medications are used for treatment of Hepatitic C, Leukemia, and skin cancer.
For years, experts have warned that the Health Appropriations Committee needs a much larger budget, yet it was left unchanged. Experts estimate that a permanent 2% increase in the "health basket", the overall budget for Israel's public healthcare system, which stands at NIS 36.5 billion, is necessary.
The change would enable an increase the budget for medication to NIS 700 million, which is two times larger than the budget that was currently allocated for medication and treatments.
The budget issue emerged even before negotiations began, when the cost of the total drugs that were submitted to the "health basket" totaled an amount of NIS 3 billion – one billion NIS more compared to every other year, and three times larger than the budget appropriated to the expansion of the entire "health basket."
NIS 300 million budget
The Health Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet Sunday morning for a long and critical debate which will ultimately lead to a decision regarding what state-funded medications will be given to the sick in Israel. Due to the complexity of the discussions, there is a possibility that the crucial meeting will continue onto Monday.
As stated, the members of the Health Appropriates Committee was allocated NIS 300 million for medication which will require them to closely choose the drugs, technologies, and treatments from a list of those required – the total list costing much more than the budget allocated.
In the past few days, the Health Ministry negotiated with drug companies in order to lower the prices of the various drugs and enable an inclusion of more treatments.
In addition to the new, breakthrough drugs that the Health Appropriations Committee seeks to provide patients with, the inclusion of several other treatments will be discussed and debated in the critical meeting on Sunday.
These treatments include an artificial heart system that aids in heart transplants allocated to ten patients a year, an annual screening test that can detect aortic aneurisms for smokers between the age of 65 and 74, and medication for diabetes and cancer.
The list also includes advanced medication for children who suffer from attention deficit disorders and do not respond to Ritalin or Concerta, a shingles vaccine for adults over the age of 65, a pertussis (Whooping Cough) vaccine for pregnant women and adults, a flu vaccine in a spray form, genetic screening for various syndromes, and medication for Crohn's and Colitis among others.
Drugs and treatments that have been dropped from the agenda so far include: A diabetes monitoring gauge for adults, an expansion for cervical cancer vaccines, lung cancer screenings for smokers, and many other drugs.
Several Israelis suffering from cerebral palsy, Rett Syndrome, Isaac's syndrome and other patients who require alternative communication support systems in order to communicate with friends and family members will hold a demonstration on Sunday. The diseases, which affect the patient's ability to communicate, require computers and tablets in order to be able to communicate with their surroundings.
'The machine will ease our lives'
One of these patients is 9-year-old Bat-El Blynder who suffers from a chromosomal abnormality known as Patau syndrome which inhibits her from speaking.
"We heard about this computer a few months ago, we rented it from Ezer Mizion (health support organization) and they gave it to Bat-El's school. The staff tells us that it helping her advance but unfortanatly we do not have one at home. She doesn't speak, and we yearn to know what she wants but we cannot understand her. We have no way of knowing if she is in pain or doesn't feel well. Sometimes she cries, but we cannot understand. This machine will ease our lives," says Bat-El's father Michael.
The cost of the system is NIS 12 million, an annual amount considered rather insignificant, but this year, due to the economic difficulties, the availability of the technology may encounter a serious problem.
Another patient who is anxiously awaiting the decision of the Health Appropriations Committee is Eli Koblon who suffers from short bowl syndrome and forced to rely on artificial feeding which harms his liver.
In the past two months, research has amounted evidence that medication for the disease is more effective than determined. Last year, the price of the drug stood at NIS one million for each patient but this year the price dropped by NIS 200,000, which could improve its chances of getting included in the list of state-funded medications.
"I believe my two year journey will end tomorrow. The medication saved the lives of hundreds of those sick around the world. This is one of the only medications that patients cannot acquire independently. I believe that logic, reason and compassion will win. This is a medication that saves lives and the Health system is committed to save lives at all costs," says Koblon.
As more and more patients yearn to prove their need and worthiness of receiving medications, the Health Appropriations Committee will bear the weight of deciding which patients will receive dire medication this coming year.
