Following an intense campaign by the Coalition for Public Dental Health, of which ACRI is a key member, the Knesset approved in July 2010 a softened version of a law authorizing the establishment of a fifth Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), designated specifically for dental care.
The Coalition was specifically opposed to the fact that the new HMO was initially intended to be a private company – which would effectively serve only the rich and discriminate against poor populations groups. However, the Coalition lauded the Knesset’s Labor, Health and Welfare Committee for approving an amendment to the law stating that the HMO could not be profit-seeking, eliminating some of the potential rights violations inherent in the original draft bill.
The new HMO (denoted in the law as an “organization dedicated to providing dental health care”) will provide public dental health services to children, and will compete with existing HMOs, which have been offering public dental services to children starting in July. The onset of public health care for children in itself was a landmark, hard-won victory for the Coalition for Public Health. Read more about this groundbreaking program here.
The initial proposed legislation for the establishment of a dental HMO went through a number of dramatic and important changes. In addition to the HMO now being not-for-profit, insurance companies and individuals controlling insurance companies will be prohibited from owning such an organization, and patients’ personal information from their current HMOs would not be transferred to the new HMO.
The new law also states that the new dental HMO would be subjected to all obligations under the National Health Insurance Law and the Sick Person’s Rights Law including the availability of dental health services throughout the country and a prohibition on discrimination.
Additionally, members of the Committee determined that the Ministry of Health could change some of these conditions.
