Do You Want A Really Excellent Medical System? Live In Israel Or At Least Learn About “Health Care For All” In The Jewish State.

Marty Peretz
The New Republic
21 May '10
Posted before Shabbat

(As I do not generally censor another authors comments, try to bare with his opening paragraph. Y.)

Not a single person is excluded from the system. The non-citizen Arabs of Jerusalem are included in it. The ultra-orthodox Jews, who barely recognize Israeli sovereignty (after all, G-d did not grant it), use it, probably to excess.

As the United States embarks on its new medical venture, it might be interesting to read an article in the Jerusalem Report of May 2 on the universal health coverage which Israel provides.

Here are seven salient paragraphs:

From the perspective of the bottom line, the figures are impressive: Israel’s per capita health costs are half those of the United States, and the country expends a much smaller proportion of its GDP on health care, yet it provides universal health coverage, and top-notch, technologically up-to-date care. Its outcomes in many areas are superior.

Compared to the US, Israel has more physicians per capita, a lower infant mortality rate, higher life expectancy, and lower rates of cardiovascular disease. The country has the highest number of IVF units in the world per population, and is near the top of the lists of transplant units per population and overall physicians per population.

Although not without its flaws, and always with room for improvement, surveys indicate remarkable general satisfaction with the health care system; a survey conducted every two years by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute consistently shows 88 percent of Israelis report a high level of satisfaction with their health plans.

Notably, that figure is even higher among minorities: The percentage of respondents who were satisfied or very satisfied was highest among Arabic speakers, at 94 percent. “The health system in this country is in good shape, by any measured parameter, in both accomplishments and containing expenses,” says Kobi Glazer, a professor in the Tel Aviv University School of Management, specializing in Health Economics.

(Read full article)

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