News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Economic-Social Cabinet decided to establish a new health maintenance organization (HMO) – the fifth such organization in Israel. In order to be recognized, the new HMO will have to have at least 40,000 insured members after its first year of operation, and 130,000 members after three years.

The cabinet determined that the four existing HMOs, two of which, Clalit and Maccabi, currently hold 80% of the market, are not enough to create real competition in the health service market. The lack of competition, the ministers decided, could lead to inefficient use of the NIS 25 billion that the HMOs receive from the National Insurance Institute annually, and lower the level of service.