How many times have you heard the phrase:
“Leave you money, the main thing is health”
There is no doubt that health is important, but the expenditure component on health insurance can also be saved without compromising the scope of insurance.
Let’s start from the beginning,
What are the different types of insurance available today?
In Israel, there are three frameworks for coverage for health expenses, on three different levels:
National Health Insurance
Every citizen of the State of Israel is insured according to the National Health Insurance Law, which allows every resident of the State of Israel to receive national health services through one of the health funds of his choice. Services include: hospitalization, tests, treatments, medications and medical equipment. For details of the terms of national health insurance.
Additional Health Services (Shaban)
Above this basic insurance level, the health funds offer additional services to their policyholders. These are services that are in addition to the services included in the health basket. Each health plan is entitled to choose which health services it will offer to policyholders in its Shaban program, provided that the services are not included in the basic basket of services of the various health funds. Services included by the health plans in their Shaban insurance include, inter alia: participation in the purchase of medicines and accessories that are not included in the health services basket – according to a defined list, dentistry, additional medical opinion, complementary medicine, periodic examinations, the possibility of choosing a surgeon for surgery in Israel from a list of surgeons and surgeries, surgeries abroad (beyond eligibility under the National Health Insurance Law, surgeries that cannot be performed in Israel).
Private Insurance
The insurance companies offer additional private health insurance, including transplants, drugs outside the health basket, drugs that are included in the health basket but not in the original indication (i.e., a drug intended for one disease but also suitable for the treatment of other diseases. When a doctor recommends it for treatment of a disease that is not in the original indication, then there is no coverage in the health fund). Long-term care hospitalization expenses, payment of a monthly allowance for home care, serious illnesses, personal accidents and more.
As part of the reform in private insurance, it was decided to regulate the issue of surgeries performed in Israel. This component was taken out of private insurance and is now sold separately in a uniform insurance policy in all insurance companies.
The parts of private insurance include coverage for surgeries abroad. Transplants and drugs outside the basket remain unchanged and are sold by insurance companies, each insurer according to the criteria it has determined.
How to save on health insurance?
Double Insurance
Over 50% of the population has private health insurance, and over 80% have supplementary coverage from the health fund. Many Israelis are double-insured, and almost everyone who holds private insurance is also insured as part of supplementary insurance. There is usually overlap between the insurance coverage of the different insurance policies and therefore those insured by several health insurances are injured and actually pay for the same insurance twice.
To avoid double insurance coverage, it is recommended to go to the Insurance Mountain website (note that you go to the site that ends in gov.il) which gathers all our insurance information in one place, and check if we have different insurance policies to cover against the same damage.
If you find that you have such overlapping policies, cancel one or consult an insurance consultant.
Excess insurance
Once we have eliminated the duplicates, we will check whether the policy is relevant to us. It is possible that in the past we purchased some insurance that is no longer relevant to us today – such as personal accident insurance, occupational professional insurance, or insurance to cover complementary medicine treatments. Details of our policy can be seen on the insurance company’s website, in the personal area.
Lowering the price of insurance
After carefully examining the existing policy, it is recommended to do a “market research” and compare prices. Switching from one insurance company to another is recommended only if the state of health has not changed. (If your health situation has changed – it is not certain that you should change the policy). Assuming you are in good health, costs and coverage are compared. If the coverage is better and the cost is cheaper, and there are no medical problems, we will change the policy.
Please note that the information provided is general and partial only and is not intended to replace professional personal advice, based on the reader’s personal data. If you decide to act on the basis of this information, you will bear full and exclusive responsibility for your action and its results, and there will be no responsibility for the organization of Paamonim or anyone acting on its behalf.
