150,000 elderly Israelis left with no nursing care, despite paying for it
MK Itzik Shmuly chokes up tears talking about challenges his grandmother had to face from an insurance company that was not there when she needed it, while Haim and Tami Carmi are afraid their Education Ministry pension won't be enough to pay for nursing care.
Some 150,000 elderly Israelis have been dropped by their insurance companies over the past four years, leaving them with no nursing care despite having paid for this insurance for dozens of years, Insurance Commissioner Dorit Salinger told the Knesset's Labor, Welfare and Health Committee on Monday.
According to data obtained by Ynet from the pensioners' union, tens of thousands of other insured will be dropped by their insurance companies by the end of December.
The crisis emerged as a result of a decision made by the Finance Ministry in August to bar the sale of group insurance starting next year, as these premiums tend to become more expensive the older the insured get, forcing many to buy private geriatric insurance.
Group insurance will be replaced by geriatric care sold through the HMOs.
Zionist Union Itzik Shmuly got choked up during the meeting on Monday when he told the committee about the challenges his late grandmother Saida faced when dealing with her insurance company.
"One of those 1.2 million people who fell into this trap is a woman called Saida, grandma Saida," Shmuly said, tearing up. "She was a nurse at a public hospital and paid the insurance company every month for 20 years. And when she needed them, where were they?
"Grandma Saida was my grandmother. She made aliyah from Iraq and walked to the hospital every day. She only had one wish before she got into that situation: That she would not be a burden on her family," Shmuly said.
"I won't allow for invalid elderly people in Israel to be treated that way. To be thrown out on the street like dogs," he continued. "My grandmother and the other invalid elderly don't know what macro, actuaries and balance sheets are. They paid the insurance company for 20 years and in the end the insurance company bailed and the Finance Ministry is supporting this. This is immoral."
Haim, 68, and Tami, 64, Carmi, pensioners of the Education Ministry, also found themselves in a difficult situation.
Haim, who worked as a teacher for over 30 years, recently suffered a stroke. He is worried and furious. "We paid the premium for the nursing care for dozens of years, and all of a sudden we receive a notice that none of this is worth anything. What are we going to do now? We're helpless at the moment," he said.
"For years we were promised a solution will be found, and were told to keep paying until then. They also told us, 'You can pay NIS 1,000 instead of NIS 600 for private insurance.' But how are we going to live? We have a pension from the Education Ministry that is barely enough to get by. How are we going to pay for medicine? How will we make ends meet?"
Haim is afraid of becoming an invalid. "My wife was a kindergarten teacher, so we both got our insurance through the Teacher's Association. I'm not the healthiest man. I suffered a stroke and went through rehabilitation, but this is no assurance because I'm at risk and could have another stroke. If I become an invalid, I don't want my children to have to support me. That's why we got the insurance. If I become an invalid, it'll cost NIS 15,000 a month: Either getting a caretaker, or going to a retirement home. I have no idea how we're going to pay for this. Our pension is not even half of it."
"We are almost on the verge of disaster. Canceling the group insurance was done in a reckless manner by the Capital Market, Insurance, and Savings Department," said the chairman of the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee, MK Eli Alalouf (Kulanu), during the committee meeting. "We must freeze the move at least for the coming year."
MK Roy Folkman (Kulanu) added, "This was a systematic failure. The Histadrut, the workers' unions, the regulator and the insurance companies need to explain how they allowed the creation of premiums that don't provide cover for the insured at the moment of truth."
Salinger claimed that the new plan offered to replace group insurance "provides a solution to those 60 and over who were dropped or will be dropped from the collective premiums: To join the larger collective of the HMOs, which has no risk and which we ensure would remain stable. I don't know of any better plan. There are no magic solutions here. It's wrong to continue marketing the product as it is today.
