The heavy price of the war has been revealed: approximately 1.25 million mental health treatments were provided in 2024 to Israeli citizens, of which 982,310 treatments were through health funds or arrangements, and about 274,030 treatments were through independent therapists.
This was revealed today (Monday) in the Knesset's Health Committee during a discussion on approving the collection of co-payments for these treatments. The collection has not yet been approved, as the committee chair, MK Yoni Moshriqi (Shas), emphasized the obligation to minimize harm to patients and requested clarifications and details regarding those exempt from the co-payment.
MK Yoni Moshriqi: It is imperative to minimize the harm to patients.
In the discussion, the Ministry of Health requested that the co-payment for an insured person's individual psychotherapy consultation and treatment, except for psychotherapy consultation and treatment by an independent therapist, be 35 NIS per treatment, but no more than 210 NIS per family within a three-month period.
According to Lior Barak, Deputy Director of Health Funds at the Ministry of Health, this participation is part of a larger program that includes an addition of 1.4 billion NIS to the mental health system. Such participation already exists in medication and child development, and is intended to create a commitment from the requester and prevent appointment cancellations – not to create a budget source for the program.
MK Michal Waldiger (Religious Zionism) lamented that mental health patients receiving a general disability allowance will not benefit from an exemption from the co-payment. MK Gilad Kariv (Labor) warned of the dismantling of the healthcare system and a moral failure, and called for the cancellation of the co-payment.
Gaia Afar, a health officer in the Budget Division, warned that about 20% of scheduled appointments are not utilized, and this phenomenon affects the provision of services to those in need.
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