The Healthcare System in Israel, 2024

13.01.2025

The healthcare chapter of the State of the Nation Report 2024 presents trends in national health expenditure and highlights several...

Competition Among Health Funds: Three Decades of the National Health Insurance Law

25.12.2024

The full publication is currently available only in Hebrew. To mark 30 years since the enactment of the National Health...

Long Term Care in Israel

02.04.2024

The population in Israel is aging rapidly and life expectancy is expected to continue to rise. The Taub Center is...

The Healthcare System in Israel: Between the New Normal and the Old One

10.01.2024

The health chapter in the 2023 State of the Nation Report presents a picture of the status of health and...

The October War and Its Impact on Israel’s Society and Economy

25.12.2023

In this chapter, Taub Center researchers review the impact of the October 7th war on each of the Center's policy...

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  • Taub Center researchers

Israel has become one of the world’s leaders in the consumption of narcotic pain

27.04.2023

A new study by the Taub Center shows that the rate of consumption of opioids (prescription narcotic pain medication) in...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Are We Nearing an Opioid Epidemic in Israel?

19.03.2023

A new study by the Taub Center presents some serious facts regarding pain relief narcotic consumption and its devastating effects....

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Is there an increase in the number of cancer patients in Israel?

01.03.2023

In recognition of World Cancer Day, the Taub Center is publishing a new study: "Trends and Gaps in Morbidity and...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Trends and Gaps in Morbidity and Mortality from Cancer Within Towns in Israel

05.02.2023

The full research is available in Hebrew only. Cancer is the leading cause of death in Israel among both men...

Climate Sensitivity and Regulatory Deficiencies: Challenges in the Area of the Environment and Health in Israel

08.01.2023

This study was conducted as part of the Taub Center Research and Policy Initiative for Environment and Health which is...

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The COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case Fatality Rate

29.12.2022

Executive Summary This study, conducted by Kyrill Shraberman, examined the differences between countries in their COVID-related mortality rates out of...

Life Expectancy in Israel in 2021: On the Rise Again?

31.03.2022

The Covid-19 pandemic halted the upward trend in life expectancy that has prevailed over the last three decades. Instead of...

The School Health Services: Between Privatization and Nationalization

28.03.2022

The student health service is an organization with a  long history and undeniable importance. Great significance is ascribed to these...

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  • Taub Center Staff

The School Health Service in Israel: Between Privatization and Nationalization

14.03.2022

School health services are a long-standing and central component of the public health service in Israel, although over the past...

The Health Workforce in Israel During the Covid-19 Pandemic: An Overview

26.12.2021

Main findings: At the end of 2020, there were 32,000 physicians in Israel, an increase over the previous year. This...

Interim Report for the First 18 Months of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Israel: Infection, Testing and Hospitalization According to City and Sector

25.11.2021

The fourth wave of Covid-19 in Israel is apparently drawing to a close, while at the same time, the emergence...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Bringing Israel’s South to the center of the policy discussion

23.08.2021

The general perception of Israel’s geographic periphery, namely the country’s North and South, is that these regions contain larger concentrations...

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  • Taub Center Staff

A Sociodemographic Profile of the South

07.06.2021

This study focuses on changes in the sociodemographic and economic profile of Israel’s Southern District, which broadly includes the Negev....

The Relationship Between Parental Stress and Young Children’s Screen Time During a COVID-19 Driven National Lockdown

24.05.2021

This study examines screen use by young children during the first Covid-19 lockdown in Israel. Screen use is a matter...

Looking forward: How we move ahead a year after the coronavirus crisis struck Israel

25.04.2021

In these early months of 2021, Israel has been both evaluating the scope of the losses experienced during this unprecedented...

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  • Taub Center Staff

The Battle Against the Coronavirus From the Perspective of the Healthcare System: An Overview

24.12.2020

Executive summary Israel’s population is relatively young providing it with an advantage in responding to the coronavirus; however, the healthcare...

Physicians in Israel: Trends in Characteristics and Training

24.12.2020

The total supply of physicians in any given location is determined by two factors: the number of individuals with a...

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The Coronavirus Crisis and Its Impact on Women in the Labor Market: Permanent Damage or a Short-Term Setback with Long-Term Potential?

16.06.2020

Executive Summary With the outbreak of the coronavirus and the shutdown of the economy, many workers were laid off or...

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  • Liora Bowers

The War on Coronavirus and Its Financing by the Israeli National Health Insurance

14.05.2020

This study evaluates the willingness of Israeli society to make economic sacrifices to prevent deaths from coronavirus. How much should...

Can Israel’s coronavirus response protect a neglected healthcare system?

14.04.2020

As of this article’s publication, Israel has been doing relatively well in the war against COVID-19 in comparison with other...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Anticipating the Total Mortality Impact of Coronavirus in Israel

29.03.2020

The study’s authors do not expect the number of deaths from the virus to exceed several hundred. However, they highlight...

The Acute Care Hospitalization System in Israel: From a Vision of Decentralization to a Centralized and Out-of-Control Reality

23.12.2019

The acute care hospitalization system in Israel is in a state of crisis, due to large gaps between the system’s...

REALITY CHECK* – Healthy Israelis but an Unhealthy System

14.12.2019

* Reality Check: A consideration of the facts, setting aside opinions, preconceptions, and beliefs الإعلان باللغة العربية متاح هنا --------...

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  • Taub Center Staff

The Healthcare System: An Overview

14.12.2019

The Israeli population is relatively healthy compared to other developed countries; life expectancy has continued to rise over the past...

The State of the Acute Care Hospitalization System in Israel

10.08.2019

A new Taub Center study (the first in a two-part series) published last month looks at Israel’s hospitalization system and...

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  • Taub Center Staff

The State of the Acute Care Hospitalization System in Israel

14.07.2019

The study  looks at the general hospitalization system in Israel and suggests that there are systemic failures in planning, budgeting, and...

Is there a cure? Addressing challenges in Israel’s healthcare system

14.04.2019

Israelis have benefited from the universal health coverage enacted in 1995 following the National Health Insurance Law (NHIL), and they...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Israel’s Exceptional Fertility

23.12.2018

It is widely known that fertility levels in Israel exceed fertility levels in all other developed countries, and that this...

Healthcare in Israel: An Overview

14.12.2018

Israel’s current health indicators are potentially quite good, but they reflect past investments in the healthcare system. Today, there are...

Socioeconomics in Israel at a glance: what is the picture of the nation?

21.06.2018

The Taub Center’s A Picture of the Nation 2018, generously supported by the Koret Foundation, presents a complex picture of...

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  • Taub Center Staff

What’s the cost of health – and who’s paying?

14.04.2018

Overall, healthcare spending as a share of GDP has remained fairly stable in Israel over the past two decades, weighing...

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  • Taub Center Staff

The Health of the Arab Israeli Population

14.12.2017

The full chapter can be accessed using the link on the right. The chapter deals with the health status of the Arab...

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Current Developments in the Healthcare System

14.12.2017

The full chapter can be accessed using the link on the right. The chapter deals with the most pressing issues in Israel’s...

More and More, the Universal Healthcare System in Israel is not Enough

14.08.2017

“Healthcare” has been a major buzzword this summer. In the U.S. certainly, the debate over healthcare – what care should...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Preparing for the future: long-term care in Israel

14.05.2017

The number of elderly Israelis (aged 70 and older) is expected to double from about 610,000 today to about 1.24...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Manna for all: Who can afford to eat healthy in Israel?

14.04.2017

A basic, healthy food basket assures adequate nutrition that is essential for proper body, mind and social functioning. It is...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Revisiting Israel’s Healthcare Priorities

14.04.2017

The study  examines the years of healthy life in terms of disease burden, a measure that takes into account both disability/poor...

Long-Term Care in Israel: Funding and Organization

28.02.2017

Long-Term Care in Israel: Funding and Organization The share of Israelis aged 70 and older is projected to double in...

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Why Is Men’s Life Expectancy So High in Israel?

14.12.2016

This chapter examines the factors responsible for the high life expectancy of Israeli men, with Israel ranked among the top...

Introduction: Needs and Funding in Israel’s Healthcare System: General Trends

14.12.2016

The Israeli healthcare system has many achievements to its credit, at least regarding its relative contribution to Israel’s high life...

Private Expenditure on Healthcare in Israel

14.12.2016

National healthcare expenditures can be split into two categories: public expenditures, funded by the state, and private expenditures funded by...

A Healthy Food Basket in Israel

14.12.2016

Access to a healthy food basket, which guarantees adequate nutrition, is essential for optimal physical, mental, cognitive and social functioning...

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Waiting for Care: Queues in Israel’s Hospitals

14.11.2016

Waiting for Care: Queues in Israel’s Hospitals   A recent Taub Center policy brief finds that within Israel’s public hospital...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Your Place in Line: Waiting Times in Israel’s Public Hospitals

07.08.2016

Patients in Israel face disparities in waiting times for medical care based on the location of the hospital (periphery versus...

Live Long and Prosper: Health in the Haredi Community

14.05.2016

Most studies show a positive significant correlation between socioeconomic status and life expectancy. Put simply, on average, the higher a...

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  • Taub Center Staff

The Relationship Between Social Capital and Health in the Haredi Sector

14.12.2015

This chapter seeks to identify the possible reasons for the relatively good health status of Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) in Israel....

Mental Health Reform: Pitfalls and Prospects

14.07.2015

This reform, which shifts responsibility for inpatient and ambulatory mental healthcare services to the health funds (HMOs), involves a significant...

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  • Uri Aviram Sagit Azary-Viesel

Objectives and Recommendations for the 34th Government of Israel

21.05.2015

Center researchers have mapped the challenges facing the country in the fields of macroeconomics, the labor market, education, social services,...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Vote Smart Israel – Healthcare

14.03.2015

Each brief is a quick read and provides a snapshot of each issue at large in just a few lines....

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  • Taub Center Staff

Financing and Work Force Issues in Israel’s Healthcare System

14.12.2014

Both of these problems pose a risk to Israel's good performance with regard to its population’s health. In contrast to...

Health Status and Healthcare System Budgeting in Israel in the Context of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)

14.12.2014

While accepted metrics in the healthcare system in Israel and in general often evaluate mortality, the Disability-Adjusted Life Years measure...

Is There a Doctor (or Nurse) in the House?

14.07.2014

Some actions have been taken in recent years to reverse these trends and it remains to be seen if these...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Hot Issues in Israel’s Healthcare System

14.03.2014

The Israeli healthcare system has long produced good comparative healthcare outcomes on a range of indicators – low infant mortality,...

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  • Liora Bowers

Reforms are Needed to Increase Public Funding in Israel’s Health System

14.11.2013

However, a decline in the ratio of physicians to population that reached a modern low in 2006, an approximate ten-percentage-point...

The Law for Rehabilitation in the Community of Persons with Mental Disabilities: An Interim Appraisal

14.11.2013

Besides reviewing the reform’s accomplishments and its contribution to the changes that have occurred in mental health services, the article...

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  • Uri Aviram

Trends in Israel’s Healthcare System

14.11.2013

However, the healthcare system continues to play a role in widening income gaps; it also continues to exhibit a loss...

Privatization of Social Services in Israel

21.03.2013

Prof. Reuben Gronau, a Policy Fellow in the Taub Center’s Economic Policy Program and an economist at the Hebrew University,...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Changes in Healthcare System Allocation to Promote Equality between Center and Periphery: Is it for Real?

14.03.2013

This represents about 80 percent of the total public budget for financing medical services in Israel – the services given...

Israel’s Population: Deceptively Young

14.03.2013

Due to Israel’s high birth rate and relatively young immigrants prior to the 1990s, its population is characterized by a...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Israel’s Healthcare System

14.12.2012

Rather than aiding the public part of the system to cope with the challenge, the State has exacerbated the situation...

The “Americanization” of Healthcare Financing in Israel

14.11.2011

Both in terms of healthcare outcomes and costs, the United States has underperformed over the last four decades when compared...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Israel’s Healthcare System

14.10.2011

Manpower increases were recently authorized for the system, and access to healthcare in Israel’s periphery is expanding.  Some of these...

A “Malignant Growth” in the Share of Private Expenditure for Healthcare and its Price

14.07.2011

The situation exposes the system to increasingly to market failures and which are particularly problematic in Israel due to the...

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Dental Care in Israel – Still Out of Bounds

14.03.2011

Israelis have had national healthcare coverage since 1995. Even before then, access to basic medical care was almost universal and...

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  • Taub Center Staff

How Healthy?

14.09.2010

The Israeli health system has shown notable achievement in improving outcomes for all citizens both in absolute and relative terms...

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  • Taub Center Staff

Dental Health: The Burden on Households – Implications for National Health Insurance

14.05.2010

Expenditure on private insurance is common amongst a very low percentage of households and primarily in the higher income quintiles....

The Healthcare System

14.04.2010

Private funding currently represents about 43 percent of the overall funding, the highest beyond the United States among the developed...

The Health Care System – 2007

14.04.2008

Life expectancy in Israel is among the highest in the world (especially among men) and infant mortality is below the...

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  • Yaakov Kop (z”l)

Financing the Israeli Healthcare System 1995-2005

14.12.2007

This paper examines what has happened in practice to the system over the years with emphasis on how these changes...

Inequality in Health and in the Healthcare System

20.09.2007

There is a danger of these gaps being ignored within the health system. The Center calls for adopting a concrete...

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  • Leon Epstein Tuvia Horev

The Plan to Reorganize Mental Health Services in Israel, 1972: Factors that Help and Hinder the Reform to Community-Based Mental Health Services

14.08.2007

Since the mid-1970s the mental health services have attempted to decrease the number of psychiatric beds and decrease the number of services given...

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  • Uri Aviram Nicole Dahan

Enacting the National health Insurance Law: Why in 1994?

14.08.2007

The legislation regarding national health insurance is among the most important pieces of social legislation of the past decade. Until...

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  • Bruce Rosen Gabi Bin nun

Oral and Dental Health: The Responsibility of the State Towards Its Citizens

14.08.2007

Morbidity is high and the disparities between population groups are substantial. Public spending on dental health care is the lowest...

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  • Tuvia Horev Jonathan Mann

Health Policy and Legislation: Changing the Rules of the Game

22.07.2007

Despite these improvements, there are gaps between population groups in Israel on every one of these indicators - in terms...

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  • Tuvia Horev

Health Care Services – 2006

14.05.2007

The services are legislated by the National Health Insurance Law and are delivered at relatively low private cost. The achievements...

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  • Yaakov Kop (z”l)

Preventive Medicine for Pregnant Women and Their Children: At a Crossroads

14.03.2006

In the past this branch has dealt with regulating disease; in the past few decades the challenge has been widened...

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  • Chava Palti

The Relationship Between Community Medicine and the Hospital System

14.01.2006

In practice, the relationships within the medical services – between hospitals and sick funds – is becoming ever more complex....

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  • Yuval Weiss Yair Birnbaum Shlomo Mor-Yosef

Equity and Accessibility to Emergency Medical Services

22.12.2005

Now, more than 10 years later, there is no equality in accessibility to emergency medical services. This study examines the...

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  • Kobi Peleg

Health Care Services – 2005

14.12.2005

The credit for these achievements, as has been noted in the past, definitely belongs to the caliber and quality of...

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  • Yaakov Kop

Court Ruling Determinants of Health Policy

22.05.2005

These studies underline the fact that because Israel has no "basic law' relating to health, judicial court rulings have become...

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  • Tuvia Horev

Summary of Findings – Israel’s Social Services 2004

22.12.2004

Main findings are presented in the following areas: Economic Developments and Government Expenditure; Education; Health Care; Personal Social Services; Transfer...

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  • Yaakov Kop

Health Care Services – 2004

22.12.2004

The challenge facing the system, primarily in view of changes towards increased private funding, is to maintain and improve the...

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  • Yaakov Kop

Mental Health Reform in Israel

22.12.2004

Israel, like many other countries in the world, is in need of mental health reform. Wise implementation of reform will...

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  • Avner Elizur Yehuda Baruch Yaakov Lerner Mordechai Shani

Summary of Findings – Israel’s Social Services 2003

22.12.2003

Findings in the following areas are presented: Government Expenditure; Education System; Health Services; Personal Social Services. This is a part...

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  • Yaakov Kop

The Health Care System – 2003

14.12.2003

This paper is in Hebrew only....

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  • Yaakov Kop

Equity and the Israeli Health Care System: Relative Poverty as a Health Risk Factor

14.07.2003

This paper examines the health according to socioeconomic indices, looks at the effects of socioeconomic factors on health, deals with...

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Health Care Services – 2002

14.12.2002

This paper is in Hebrew only....

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  • Yaakov Kop (z”l)

Health Care Services – 2000

14.11.2000

This paper appears in Hebrew only....

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  • Yaakov Kop (z”l)

Action Plan – Long-Term Care Services

14.12.1999

First, we describe the extent of the problem occasioned by the exclusion of long-term inpatient care from the services covered...

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  • Jacob Menczel

Action Plan – Health Services

14.12.1999

Another goal was to create an inclusive and comprehensive package of services – including components that the health funds had...

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  • Arie Shirom

Health System – 1999-2000

14.12.1999

Is Israel’s national health expenditure high by the standards of the industrialized countries to which Israel is usually compared? What major...

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  • Yaakov Kop

Health Services – 1998-99

14.11.1998

Truth to tell, even before the law was enacted the health system suffered from ongoing crises, but this law was...

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  • Jimmy Weinblatt Yosef Katan Joel Blankett Nachum Blass Dalit Nachshon-Sharon Yaakov Kop

Health Services – 1997

20.11.1997

This publication is available in Hebrew only....

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  • Yaakov Kop
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Equity in the Israeli Health System

20.09.1997

Examination of health system equity in the general context of economic and social development, and in particular in the context...

National Expenditure on Education and Health

20.02.1997

The study shows the the performance of expenditure on civilian public consumption declined markedly in 1994-1995, meaning the the public...

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  • Yaakov Kop

Government Expenditure on Social Services 1994-1995

08.08.1996

This report analyzes actual government outlays for social services in 1994 and the budget for 1995. The findings are analyzed...

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  • Joel Blankett Jimmy Weinblatt Yaakov Kop (z”l) Dalit Nachshon-Sharon Yosef Katan

Private Medical Service in Public Hospitals: Situation and Assessment

14.01.1996

This publication is in Hebrew only.  Publication available upon request....

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  • Arie Shirom

Israel Towards the Twenty First Century – Social Report

20.11.1995

The overarching examples of change looked at here in education, health, and income maintenance point to the emergence of new...

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  • Chaim Adler Sergio DellaPergola Shmuel N. Eisenstadt Ruth Gavison Yosef Katan Yaakov Kop Moshe Lissak Jacques Michel Emanuel Sharon Arie Shirom Jimmy Weinblatt

Preventive Health Care Services in Israel: The Present Situation and Policy Alternatives

20.11.1994

This publication is available upon request and is in Hebrew only....

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  • Arie Shirom

National Health Spending

20.09.1988

This paper appears as a chapter in the Center's annual publication, Israel's Social Services 1987-1988. This publication did not appear...

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  • Gur Ofer

The Organization of Health Services in an Era of Economic Crisis

20.06.1987

The views expressed by the participants are their own, and not necessarily those of the organizations they represent. This collection...

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  • Joel Blankett Kalman J. Mann Aviva Ron Eric Peritz Jacques Michel Arnold Rosin Lotte Salzberger Gabi Bin nun Gur Ofer

National Expenditure on Education and Health – 1985

04.04.1986

First, we expand the discussion to include expenditures on social services by all active participants in the social field in...

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  • Gur Ofer