The website Har HaBituach was launched in April 2017, following the success of the "Har HaKessef" website. Since then, it has been a reliable source of information for the public on checking insurance policies registered in their name and preventing duplicate insurance.
Until today, both websites were published solely in Hebrew, and foreign language-speaking citizens needed to first translate and then fully understand the context to benefit from this great tool.
To access "Har HaBituach," you'll need to first register on the official gov.il for "personal government area." While I write these lines, it's published only in Hebrew and Arabic.
Once you have access, you'll need to enter your ID number and password to receive an OTP SMS to the phone number you entered when registering at Gov.il.
Insurance categories on "Har HaBituach":
- General: auto, house, and business This category protects mainly your assets and possessions and is usually paid yearly.
- Health: private and public health care providers insurance covers such things as surgeries, private medical specialist consultations, diagnostic tests, long-term care insurance, serious illness insurance, and more.
- Life: covers loss of life or income protection due to disability.
Once you click one of the categories, you'll have more information, such as:
- What kind of insurance
- The company for which you are insured.
- The life span of the policy
- how much you pay.
- Is the payment monthly or yearly?
- Is the policy private or collective?
- policies numbers.
What doesn’t it show?
- The amount of compensation in the case of any of the policies
- Do you have any restrictions in your policy that you are not aware of?
- How much discount do you have currently, and how much will you pay in the future?
- how the payment is made.
- How much did you save on your different savings in insurance or pension plans?
There are three ways to retrieve the information: download a pdf or an excel file to your device or send it via e-mail.
Tips: Download the files. The email doesn't always work.
Before you download, click on "All Insurances" below the file download icons. If you download a file within each category, you will download that specific category and not all your folders.
Note that "Har HaBituach" shows only one ID at a time. If you need to see what your family is insured for, you need to access each.
Let's explain each category:
General:
Auto insurance: there are three categories of car insurance in Israel:
- Bituach Chova: "Compulsory Insurance, which is a legal requirement for car ownership.
- Bituach Makif: covers any damage to your vehicle and any third-party vehicle up to the sums specified in your car insurance policy. It also covers any depreciation in the market value of your car as a result of damage caused by an accident.
- Tzad Gimmel: only covers damage to a third party. It does not cover damage to your own vehicle.
Home insurance: there are four basic categories of home insurance in Israel:
- Structure: This covers the physical structure of your home against loss or damage from events such as fire, smoke, lightning, explosion, windstorm, flood, vandalism, theft, break-in, robbery, and civil unrest.
- Contents: This covers the contents of your home against loss or damage from the same events as structure insurance.
- Third-party liability coverage: This covers the policy owners and their family members for monetary damages that they cause to people or property and for which the Israeli "law of damages" considers them liable.
- Employer's liability coverage: This covers employees who work at home for injuries or damages that occur while they are working.
Note: When taking a mortgage, you will be required to purchase home and life insurance. Only the structure category is required, but we strongly suggest purchasing the third-party liability coverage as well.
Business insurance in Israel can cover a wide range of risks that businesses may face. property insurance, liability insurance, and workers' compensation insurance. It is important for businesses to work with an insurance agent or broker to assess their risks and determine the appropriate coverage for their needs.
Life:
Compensation in case of death
- Risk: in case the insured dies for any reason, the insurance company will pay the updated beneficiaries the amount covered by the policy. This cover is mostly personal and paid directly to the insurance company; in some cases, it will be paid by the employer and deducted on your paycheck.
- Mortgage: like the risk above, this covers the case of death, except that the beneficiaries will be the bank that gave you the mortgage, and the amount covered will decline as your loan. This is also required by the bank that issues the loan.
Compensation in the event of loss of capacity for work is paid by most Israelis as pension funds, and this cover will not show on "Har HaBituach".
For those who have private insurance, it will usually come with senior employees' insurance.
In this issue, you should get professional advice.
Private savings in insurance companies: in Israel, you can open a "savings policy."
In "Har HaBituach," you will see only the monthly payment. If you make one, in any case, you can see the policy and contact the insurance company to know more about it.
Death or handicap by accident covers additional compensation in the event of an accident. This will only come with Risk as the basic cover.
Health:
Long-term care insurance covers the insured in case he or she can't fully function by himself or herself. The law states six ADL (activities of daily living), which are:
- Transferring
- Toileting
- Feeding
- Walking
- Bathing
- dressing
Most Israelis have this cover as the public health care providers are today the only ones who can purchase it; children are free until the age of 21.
It was possible to purchase long-term care insurance, and anyone who did is covered twice.
We recommend speaking with a professional to better understand the difference between the two.
Serious illness insurance
- Serious illness: in the event that one of the serious illnesses on the policy is diagnosed, the insurance company will compensate the insured by the amount stated in the policy.
- Cancer: cover only in the case of cancer.
Note: Serious illness insurance covers cancer as a cancer-only policy.
Different insurance companies will have slightly different illness lists.
Surgeries in Israel
- Public additional health services: cover all surgeries with a deductible and only with surgeons that work with your public health care provider.
- Private: cover surgeries privately with or without a deductible. There are a wide range of policies.
Private medical specialist consultations and diagnostic tests
- Public additional health services: cover all specialist consultations and diagnostic tests with a deductible and only with specialists that work with your public health care provider.
Medicines –
- In Israel, most medications are subsidized for most conditions.
But there are still many citizens who need additional cover in case of different illnesses.
Note: This is a must-have cover; don't be without it.
Cover notes-
- There are a variety of cover notes, but the most popular are:
Fast diagnostics allow you to do private medical specialist consultations and diagnostic tests in a few days.
Alternative treatments allow you to pay less for different alternative medical treatments.
There are many more.
Organ transplantation:
- In Israel, organs are rare, and the public waiting list is very long.
You should have this cover.
Surgeries and special treatment outside of Israel
- Although Israel has one of the best health care systems in the world, some advanced, cutting-edge surgeries won't be available in Israel. In this case, the insurance company will pay for the treatment, hospital, flights, hotels, and more.
Surgery replacement technologies in and outside of Israel
- Due to fast technological improvement in some cases, you can avoid having an invasive action and use new ways of treating it, which usually take time to be added to public health care.
Note: In most cases, it's add-on surgery in Israel.
Personnel injury:
In the case of an accident, only the policy covers five basic incidents:
- Death
- Disability
- Broken bones
- Burns
- Days of habilitation
The insurance company will compensate the insured for the amount stated in the policy. It's a very minor incident.
Here as well, there is a wide variety of policies, and each insurance company has different add-ons; some have only some of the ones listed above.
Note: This cover was until recently marketed by all the insurance companies; today you could find it only in 3 companies on much smaller scales.
This new tool keeps getting upgraded and better all the time.
In the end, it shows valuable information that needs to be used to your benefit.
If you speak Hebrew or not, you should get professional advice regarding your family's insurance. The market is constantly changing, as is the medical field.
This article was written in cooperation with Financon