Israel
will pay for abortions for women aged 20 to 33 regardless of
circumstance starting this year, health officials said Monday, adding
that they hope to make eligibility for state funding universal in the
future.
Until
now, subsidized abortions for women of all ages were available in
medical emergencies or in case of molest and intimate abuse. Women under
the age of 20 or over 40 were also eligible for abortion funding even
when the reason was personal.
Despite
the new funding, which was recently approved as part of Israel’s
state-subsidized “health basket” for 2014, women will still have to
appear before a state committee before terminating a pregnancy.
The
new rule opens it up for 6,300 more women to have a state-funded
abortion next year, at a cost of about 16 million shekels ($4.6
million). The cost of all state-subsidized abortions is estimated at 24
million shekels a year.
Monday’s
news was announced by the committee that determines which medicines and
medical technologies will be added to the 2014 health basket. The
health-basket committee is headed by the director of Shaare Zedek
Medical Center, Prof. Jonathan Halevy.
“It
was brought to our attention that there is a large group of women
between 20 and 40 who for various reasons – financial or reasons of
secrecy – do not terminate pregnancies,” Halevy told a press conference.
“In the current basket we’ve approved funding for pregnancy termination
for women in the 20-to-33 age group, with the intention of completing
the process ... and raising the age to 40.”
The
committee is keeping contraceptives outside the health basket, but
Halevy said this was only due to a lack of funds. “The private expense
for birth control pills is low, but when we’re talking about financing
for the entire population, that’s a hefty sum,” he said.
The
committee’s original list came in 2.5 million shekels short of the
300-million-shekel budget for additions, so the panel tried to add a
drug for children’s joint diseases. But that medicine would only apply
to around 10 children, and attempts to get the manufacturer to lower the
price failed. Instead, the committee expanded its original decision on
abortion funding; it increased the age for funding on demand to 33 from
30.
The
committee approved 83 new drugs and medical technologies for 2014,
items expected to serve some 375,000 Israelis at a total additional cost
of 300 million shekels, on top of the 7.8-billion-shekel budget for
medicines and technologies already in the health basket. The basket now
goes to the Health Ministry for approval; it also needs cabinet
approval.
Cancer
drugs make up 41 percent of the new additons, some 121 million shekels.
In recent years this figure was 35 percent to 38 percent. Other
treatments added include vaccinations, tests and support technologies.
For
2013 the committee added 88 new drugs that affected some 300,000
Israelis – an attempt to include as many patients as possible. The
committee tried to keep to this philosophy this year; it began its
deliberations in early October and whittled its list down from 650 drugs
and technologies.
Among
new items approved for 2014 are the drugs Stribild and Tivicay for HIV
carriers, and six new drugs for asthma and other lung diseases. The
budget has also been increased for cystic-fibrosis patients. Five drugs
were approved for schizophrenia and the use of current drugs has been
expanded.
Patients
with severe Parkinson’s disease will be disappointed as the drug
Duodopa, considered highly effective, was not added to the list. Its
annual cost is estimated at 62 million shekels. The committee declined
to commit 21 percent of the additional funding to a single drug. Nine
drugs for diabetes were also all left off the list. The committee also
did not add hormonal birth control or IUDs to the basket.
All
committee decisions are unanimous. Unlike previous years, the panel
finished its work in the early evening and did not stay up until the
middle of the night or well into the following morning. The add-on list
had been whittled down to 380 million shekels by midday Monday.
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