Special MDA fund covers ambulance evacuation costs for Holocaust survivors
As MDA is required by law to charge every patient a fee for evacuation in an ambulance, it decided to set up a special fund to cover the costs.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHUpdated: APRIL 10, 2018 23:23Ambulance(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Holocaust survivors who need to be evacuated by ambulance to hospitals in cases where their health fund does not cover the expense are being helped by a fund set up six years ago by Magen David Adom.As MDA is required by law to charge every patient a fee for evacuation in an ambulance, it decided to set up a special fund to cover the costs.The potential clients for the service are tens of thousands of survivors living in Israel who suffer from physical, psychological and financial hardships and need occasional medical assistance and urgent evacuation in ambulances and mobile intensive- care units.MDA says that every year it receives requests from survivors who are not entitled to refunds for evacuations in an ambulance from external bodies such as their health insurers, the National Insurance Institute, private insurance companies and the like, and have to pay the charges themselves.
