ISRAEL NHI BILL CONTROVERSY

At a specially-convened and stormy Labour Party convention, Israeli Health Minister Haim Ramon found himself isolated, as party delegates rejected his proposal for a National Health Insurance law. The bill had been the first of its kind to pass a first reading in the Knesset (parliament) As expected, Mr Ramon resigned (Marketletter February 7), the sixth health Minister to do so after having tried and failed to pass a NHI bill.

The opposition Likud party has said it will adopt Mr Ramon's rejected proposal and push it forward as a private member's bill, possibly with the support of some elements in the coalition. The Labour Party intends to present a revised NHI proposal which will be acceptable to the Histadrut (General Federation of Labour), namely to retain the link between the Histadrut and the General Sick Fund and to allow the GSF to continue to collect fees. Observers believe that it is unlikely that there will be much progress with any NHI law proposal during the current session of the Knesset.

The GSF, which was due to receive almost NIS800 million ($270 million) if the NHI bill had passed, remains in serious financial difficulties. the Finance Ministry will have to find a way with the Histadrut to reduce its budget deficit of about NIS1 billion ($337 million) during the year. The Histadrut is confident that the government will transfer funds to the GSF, rather than letting Israel's largest provider of health care go under. The Finance Ministry, on the other hand, is hinting that it will be tough with the Histadrut over the GSF, especially as the former has not carried out all its obligations in a previous "recovery" agreement to transfer funds to the GSF.