The heads of Israel's health funds, directors of hospitals, and other top officials sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday urging him not to cut the health budget as part of the economic austerity package that he has proposed. The letter said that cutting the health budget would greatly hurt middle-class Israelis, and “damage the country's home front defense capabilities in case of an emergency.
“We face daily the dilemmas of honest citizens, taxpayers, who in their most difficult moments face a tired system, with doctors who are exhausted,” the letter said. Cutting the budget any further would cause irreparable damage, it added.