News Prescription For Health SIMON GRIVER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS E FROM THE KROGER CO. ROCHELLE LIEBERMAN and the staff of Gateway Travel GATEWAY TRAVEL wish all our friends and clients a happy and healthy New Year! Julie Morganroth • Nancy Fink • Lynne Starman • Wendy Danzig • Nancy (Max) MacLeod • Mark Rubinstein • Marlene Kraft • Christy Ehlers • Ina Pitt • Sandie Weiss • Jean Sucher • Judy Chazen • Sue Erlich • Steve Spitz • Deena Canvasser • Connie Wolberg • Beth Feldman • Sonny Cohn • Mille Chad 29100 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield, Mich. 48034 OSTEOPOROSIS TESTING CENIERS Specialists in Ostepoprosis Testing 41111 Southfield, Michigan 353-8600 TO ALL OUR PATIENTS ... WARMEST WISHES FOR A HEALTHY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR xperts and patients agree that major sur- gery is needed to revive Israel's public health service which is close to bankruptcy and leaves some citizens without health in- surance coverage or with in- complete service. Health Minister Haim Ramon has formulated a national health insurance bill to remedy the situation, which he hopes to push through the Knesset. But political opposition, ironically from his own Labor party, threatens the bill's passage. Mr. Ramon is un- characteristically cir- cumspect about his col- leagues' resistance to the bill. "I have no problem with mak- ing amendments to the bill that the party can agree on," he says. "But I hope that the final decision will be for the good of the patient rather than the establishment." Mr. Ramon's bill would guarantee the right of every Israeli citizen to streamlined medical health services through the health fund of his or her choice. At present the onus is on citizens to arrange their own insurance and some 4 percent of Israelis, mainly in the Arab sector, remain without coverage. Instead of allowing the various health funds to set and collect their own fees, the National In- surance Institute would automatically levy fees at the 5.3 percent of income, thus making sure everyone joins. This clause antagonizes the powerful Labor-run Histadrut Trade Union which runs the country's largest health fund. Its Kaput Holim Clalit (General Health Fund) has 3.7 million members representing 74 percent of the health fund market. It also owns six of the country's 26 hospitals. If Mr. Ramon's bill becomes law, the Histadrut will be greatly weakened, not only because it would no longer control its own finances but more significantly because people who want to join Kupat Holim Clalit now must also joint the Histadrut labor feceration, and monies go for other than medical activities. But Histadrut Secretary- General Haim Haberfeld sees nothing untoward in this con- nection. "We are not a sinister Bolshevik organiza- tion," he insists. "We're a na- tional institute that has serv- ed the interests of the Jewish State since before in- dependence. And we have built up an impressive level of medical care comparable to other western nations." Professor Shmuel Penchas, director-general of the Hadassah Medical Organiza- tion, also stresses the relative quality of Israel's health care system. "Remember that one- third of U.S. citizens have no health care insurance," he relates. "That's more than 90 million people." "It's true that in Israel we have long queues for medical service," he continues, "but this stems from a scarcity of resources in the past. We must set our economic priorities to reduce such in- conveniences and maximize fair and equal treatment." Professor Penchas, an authority on the organization and administration of health Israel has long queues for medical service. services, was also one of the architects of the proposed health care legislation. He sat on the government ap- pointed Netanyahu Commis- sion of Enquiry into the Operation and Efficiency of the Health Care System sub- mitted its report in 1990. This became the basis of former Likud Health Minister Ehud Olmert's pro- posed health care reform bill, which failed to pass through the Knesset. The widely held assumption was that the new Labor-led government would amend the bill in order to pro- tect the Histadrut's power. But Mr. Ramon, always the affable political maverick, surprised everyone by propos- ing a bill remarkably similar to Mr. Olmert's. "I have add- ed clauses about the basket of services" (which will include routine and specialist treat- ment, subsidized medication and hospitalization coverage), Mr. Ramon explains, "which will ensure that the poorest citizens receive fair treat- ment." Mr. Haberfeld, however, thinks the bill will favor the