Israelis fear level of health care services will decline in coming year, poll shows

But vast majority of Israelis are very pleased by the medical care they received in the past year, study shows.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
The vast majority of Israelis are very pleased by the medical care they received in the past year, but more than half worry that with growing cuts in the health system, the level of services will decline during the coming year. This was reported by University of Haifa School of Public Health researchers on Wednesday. The survey was conducted by school dean Prof. Manfred Green, Prof. Perla Werner, Dr. Yitzhak Zeides and Dr. Meir Pugatch among 800 adults, a representative sample of the country's population. Eight in 10 respondents said they were either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the healthcare system. The religiously observant were more likely to be satisfied than the general population. Eighty percent said they received some kind of medical treatment or consultation in the past year, and 23% said it was excellent and 54% good. Here, too, the religious were more satisfied than the secular. When asked to compare Israel's health system with that of other countries in the developed world, only 13% said it was at a lower level, while 22% said it was better than in most Western countries and 38% said it was as good. The rest declined to answer or had no comment. However, more than 17% of those who responded said they were "very worried" and 33.5% were "worried" that the level of healthcare would decline. Women were more likely to be concerned than men. Green said that on the basis of the responses, it was unfortunate that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu remained acting health minister, with a deputy minister (Ya'acov Litzman, of United Torah Judaism) running the ministry due to his party's ideology.