The State Audit Committee, chaired by MK Miki Levy, convened today to discuss the National Insurance Institute’s arrangements with the nursing care companies for the care of the elderly. During the discussion, serious loopholes in the system emerged, in which the nursing care companies charge significantly high amounts from the National Insurance for services they do not actually provide.
At the beginning of the discussion, representatives of the Comptroller’s Office presented the deficiencies in the nursing system in Israel, which lead to a violation of the rights of the nursing elderly and the state budget: Inadequate supervision – the National Insurance Institute has not established effective methods of control over the way services are provided and the quality of care. As a result, many elderly people are exposed to poor care and even to “stealing hours” by caregivers. Neglect of the elderly: Batal has not developed an alternative mechanism to supervise and control the quality of the service, and the existing supervision mechanism has weakened significantly. As a result, many elderly are left without adequate care and even in danger. Defective reporting system: A remote reporting system was implemented in 2004 to prevent “hours theft” is no longer in operation, and BTL does not require computerized reporting of the nurses’ work diaries. Defective agreement with the nursing companies: The existing contract agreement between Batal and the nursing companies does not include changes and improvements that are required following the recommendations of the audit report. As a result, the quality of care for the nursing elderly is not optimal.
The chairman of the committee, MK Miki Levy, said in the discussion, “The welcome increase in life expectancy in Israel and the fact that Israel is on the list of developed countries and therefore on the high scale of life expectancy, and that’s a good thing. The state must prepare, preferably ahead of time, for the various scenarios. We must ensure that the National Insurance Fund meets the burdens of the recipients of the nursing pensions, because the money is really used to help the elderly and not for the parties that exploit or exploit it, and that the elderly will live a good and respectful quality of life.”
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The initiator of the discussion, MK Eliyahu Rabivo: “During the discussions, I was exposed to the fact that many patients are forced to transfer the nursing allowance to the nursing companies that will employ the foreign workers on their behalf. National Insurance transfers hundreds of millions of NIS to the nursing companies for expenses that they do not spend at all. The money continues to flow for 16 years since the publication of the previous tender. Over 16 years we have lost at least 3 billion NIS. His work is in the patient’s home, so there is no need for travel” MK Rabivo brought additional examples of nursing companies taking hundreds of millions of shekels from the National Insurance while abusing loopholes in the system, for trips that do not take place, for employee trainings that are not carried out and more. “This is a blatant robbery of The elderly are helpless, and the state must act immediately to stop the phenomenon.”
MK Simon Davidson said that at his mother’s place the nanny comes and goes whenever she wants and there are some who also do cleaning work at the same time, “At first I thought it was just me but then I went and checked and found out that this is a phenomenon that exists everywhere. It’s just unbelievable. We must deal with the issue because these are people who are getting weaker and weaker. The issue of foreign workers affects the cost of living.”
Nathalie Gabai Levy, Director of the Nursing Department at the National Insurance Institute, said in the discussion: “Most benefit recipients live in the community, in the natural environment in the bosom of the family. The issue is in advanced processes, in 10 working days the tender is going to be published and we have finished answering the 5,000 questions that were sent. We anticipate that there may be petitions and it will be delayed In the new tender, there will be a separation in the rates. National Insurance wants to promote the new tender while adapting it to the current situation. We have a free hand to impose fines and incentives as much as we want in the new tender. All the nursing companies meet training conditions, at the same time there is a team in the nursing department that will conduct visits to the courses. The elderly are important to us, and 98% are in the community thanks to the Nursing Law. We have excellent relations with the Ministry of Welfare regarding social workers. We do not push our eligible people to contact the nursing companies to accept a foreign worker. We make the information regarding a foreign worker deal directly accessible.
“National insurance will not oppose the payment of a full benefit in money if there is a change in legislation. We fully cooperate with the Committee for Foreign Workers, and we have provided it with dozens of data and documents. This is an old agreement that was signed in 2008, and there was no awareness of foreign workers then as there is today, so there was no separation between Foreign workers for Israeli workers. One must concentrate on the future and not on what has been. We encourage the employment of Israeli workers since the patient gets another 4 hours a week. In the new tender, we will rate quality and performance indicators.”
Doron Raz, chairman of the Association of Nursing Service Providers in Israel responded: “Nothing MK Rabivo said is true and his words are slanderous of the nursing companies. We state: the nursing companies comply with the provisions of the law absolutely, they do not receive a penny that is not approved by – by the government, through the National Insurance Institute. Furthermore, the National Insurance Institute closely and continuously supervises the nursing companies, their operation and the excellent care they provide to the elderly in Israel. Nursing companies and associations provide professional training to foreign and Israeli nursing workers, according to the plan by the National Insurance Institute; and for evidence, also in a discussion held in the Knesset, Nathalie Gabai-Levi, director of the nursing department at the National Insurance Institute, said that “all the nursing companies comply with the training conditions according to the contract agreement… and I have a team in my professional department that will check all These things”.
“And one word of Zionism: we the nursing societies keep Israel’s elderly above water. Without us – the situation of hundreds of thousands of elderly would be catastrophic. Nursing workers in Israel deserve a commendation for the holy work they do.”
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