The Israeli government is extending coverage to include the refugees from the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian war refugees to Israel had been receiving health insurance coverage within that country until the start of this month, when the cover was stopped. This occurred when the country’s Finance Ministry decided not to allocate funds to that purpose.
Now, the Israeli government has decided to extend coverage back to those refugees until the end of the year.
The Israeli government recently announced its intention to extend the health insurance coverage to the Ukrainian refugees in the country for another few months, until the end of 2023. This announcement was officially made by the Office of the Prime Minister.
The coverage extension follows a services suspension that lasted about two weeks as a result of a lack of funding. The new move has arrived in response to a request that a number of aid organizations filed, urging the country to return to funding healthcare for refugees from the war in Ukraine.
Petitioners brought the case to the Israeli High Court, seeking an injunction that would mandate the government to provide funding to coverage for treatments that had already started or that were scheduled. They cited concerns over the halting of those services regarding international legal violations.
The health insurance coverage has returned even as Ukrainian refugees have been losing services recently.
Over first half of this year, Ukrainian refugees have been gradually losing access to a range of services, some of which they can no longer obtain at all. According to the petitioners to the Israeli High Court, the policy shift was “lacking in reasonable explanation.” They argued that it “negatively impacts fundamental human rights, including dignity, bodily integrity, and life.”
The Prime Minister convened a meeting at the official office with representatives from the Finance Ministry in order to look into the situation regarding healthcare services for refugees from the Ukrainian war who currently live in Israel.
The Finance Ministry faced steep criticism from the Welfare Ministry for having failed to transfer the budget. Equally, the health insurance situation’s handling was referred to by the Welfare and Health Ministries as being “apathetic.”
