Healthcare Guides
Choose your health fund, register with doctors, and navigate the Israeli healthcare system
9 Guides •15-25 min each • Beginner Friendly
Reduced Health-Fund Payment Cap for Olim
As an Oleh in your first year in Israel, your family is entitled to a 50% reduction in the quarterly payment cap for certain health-fund services. The benefit applies automatically — no application needed.
Switching Between Health Funds (Changing Your Kupat Cholim)
How to switch from one health fund to another in Israel — who can switch, how often, the online and in-person processes, what waiting period applies, and when supplementary insurance carries over. Governed by the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) and the National Health Insurance Law.
Form 17 (Hitchayvut) — Health Fund Commitment Form
What Form 17 is, when you need it, and how to get one from your kupat cholim. The Form 17 (*hitchayvut*) is the commitment-to-pay form your health fund issues so a specialist, hospital, or imaging centre will treat you without billing you privately. Required for nearly all appointments outside your home clinic.
Filing a Complaint Against Your Health Fund (Kupat Cholim)
How to escalate a problem with your kupat cholim — refused referrals, denied treatments, service failures, or suspected negligence. The 2-step escalation: internal complaint to the fund first, then the Public Complaints Commissioner at the Ministry of Health under the National Health Insurance Law.
Choosing a Kupat Cholim (Health Fund)
Israel has four health funds (Kupot Cholim) — Clalit, Maccabi, Meuchedet, and Leumit. In terms of coverage all four are obligated to provide the same basic basket of health services, so choosing between them comes down to Geography and Accessibility, Recommendations, and Particular Services or Doctors. This guide walks you through how to pick the right one for your family.
Medical Interpretation Center *5144 (Translation Services for Patients)
The Ministry of Health's Medical Interpretation Center at *5144 provides free spoken-language translation between medical staff and patients during appointments. Available in Russian, Arabic, French, Amharic, and Tigrinya across public hospitals, health bureaus, and partner HMOs.
People in Need of Long-Term Care (Siud): Rights and Services
When an older adult (or in some cases a younger person) becomes dependent on care due to a stroke, cancer, accident, or dementia, the family faces a rapid learning curve — hospital discharge planning, applying for the National Insurance long-term care benefit (Gimla Siud), employing a caregiver, medical rehabilitation, and often costly home modifications. This guide is a comprehensive walkthrough of the rights and services available in Israel — for the patient and for family caregivers.
IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) in Israel
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is one of the most common advanced fertility treatments — an ovum and sperm are united in a laboratory dish rather than in the fallopian tube, and the resulting embryo is implanted in the uterus.
Health Insurance in Israel
Every Israeli resident is covered by health insurance, giving you the right to services within the basket of healthcare services (sal habriut).