Economic Plan Law (Legislative Amendments for the Implementation of the Economic Policy for the Budget Years 2015 and 2016), 5776-2015

Chapter I: Purpose

Chapter II: Housing

Chapter III: Removal of Barriers in the Field of Sewerage Services

Chapter IV: Banking

Chapter V: Health

Chapter VI: Pension Counselling and Pension Marketing

Chapter VII: Natural Gas

Chapter VIII: Establishment of the Electricity Authority

Chapter IX: Commencement

Chapter X: Protection of Public Health (Food)

This Law comes to amend various laws with the purpose of strengthening growth in the economy, increasing productivity in the economy and the level of competition therein, and reducing the cost of living in Israel, including reducing the prices of food products, housing prices and the prices of financial services, all in accordance with the budget targets and economic policy for the years 2015 and 2016.

In Chapters II to IV, part of Chapter V, and Chapters VI to X there are indirect legislative amendments. The full text may be viewed on the website under "Reshumot (Official Gazette) – Sefer HaHukim (Book of Laws)". Attention should be paid to later amendments that will be made to some of these sections.

In this Chapter –

"consultation arrangement" means an agreement between a health maintenance organisation or an insurance company and a physician or a medical institution, pursuant to which the full payment due to the physician or the medical institution for a medical consultation is determined in that agreement, shall be financed by the health maintenance organisation or the insurance company, as the case may be, except for a co-payment to the extent prescribed in the additional health services plan or in the insurance plan, and may be paid by the health maintenance organisation or the insurance company or by the patient;

"surgery arrangement" means an agreement between a health maintenance organisation or an insurance company and a physician or a medical institution, pursuant to which all payments connected to a surgery performed in Israel, including payments to the physician and to the medical institution, as well as payments for the equipment, accessories and preparations used in performing the surgery and in the course of treatment, shall be paid by the health maintenance organisation or the insurance company, as the case may be, except for a co-payment to the extent prescribed in the additional health services plan or in the insurance plan;

"insurance company" means an insurer as defined in the Insurance Supervision Law;

"Health Insurance Law" means the National Health Insurance Law, 5754-1994;

"Insurance Supervision Law" means the Financial Services Supervision Law (Insurance), 5741-1981;

"medical institution" means a hospital or a surgical clinic;

"patient" means a member or an insured person, as the case may be;

"Commissioner of Capital Markets" means the Commissioner of Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings as defined in the Insurance Supervision Law;

"surgical clinic" means a clinic as defined in section 34(c) of the Public Health Ordinance, 1940, which is required to be registered in accordance with the provisions under section 34(a)(2) of the said Ordinance and in which surgical procedures are performed;

"member" and "additional health services" have the meaning ascribed to them in section 10 of the Health Insurance Law;

"insurance policy" means a policy issued pursuant to an insurance plan that includes insurance for surgeries;

"health maintenance organisation" has the meaning ascribed to it in the Health Insurance Law, within the framework of additional health services;

"specialist physician" means a physician holding a specialist title pursuant to the Physicians Ordinance [New Version], 5737-1976;

"insurance plan" has the meaning ascribed to it in section 40 of the Insurance Supervision Law;

"the Ministers" means the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance.

"active physician on the insurance company's physicians list" means an operating surgeon in respect of whom one of the following applies:

"active physician on the health maintenance organisation's physicians list" means an operating surgeon in respect of whom one of the following applies:

"insurance company's physicians list" means the list of operating surgeons with whom the insurance company has a surgery arrangement or who are included on the specialist physicians list pursuant to section 17(b);

"health maintenance organisation's physicians list" means the list of operating surgeons with whom the health maintenance organisation has a surgery arrangement or who are included on the specialist physicians list pursuant to sections 17(a) and 18.

A physician shall not be included on the list of operating surgeons with whom the health maintenance organisation or the insurance company has a surgery arrangement, unless the health maintenance organisation or the insurance company has a consultation arrangement with that physician.

In addition to the provisions of section 17, the Minister of Health may, if he considers it necessary for the purpose of ensuring competition, prescribe that a health maintenance organisation whose share of the total members out of all members in the health maintenance organisations is less than 15 per cent shall be entitled to submit for his approval an additional list of specialist physicians with whom it has no surgery arrangement, in a number not exceeding two per cent of the total physicians with whom the health maintenance organisation has a surgery arrangement, and with respect to whom it shall also be entitled to offer monetary reimbursement within the framework of an additional health services plan; the provisions of section 17 regarding the characteristics of the list shall not apply with respect to the physicians list pursuant to this section.

Any provision applying pursuant to the Health Insurance Law to an additional health services plan, including a provision imposing obligations, conferring rights on an insured person or granting powers to a body or person vis-à-vis health maintenance organisations, shall be deemed to apply also to additional health services to which sections 14 to 18 apply.

Benjamin Netanyahu Moshe Kahlon

Prime Minister Minister of Finance

Reuven Rivlin Yuli-Yoel Edelstein

President of the State Speaker of the Knesset

24. This Law shall commence on the 30th of Tishrei 5777 (1 November 2016) (hereinafter – the commencement day), and the Minister may, by Order, with the approval of the Finance Committee of the Knesset, postpone the commencement day if the Minister finds that the postponement is required for the purpose of preparing for the implementation of the provisions of this Law.