Holocaust survivors get subsidy for medicine, with some exceptions
Agreement is expected to cost NIS 50m, will come from Social Affairs Ministry's budget.
By Dana Weiler-Polak Tags: Holocaust survivors Israel newsThe country's 80,000 Holocaust survivors will be eligible for as much as a 90 percent subsidy for their pharmaceutical bills, the Social Affairs Ministry announced yesterday after months of debate. The arrangement will go into effect in about a month; the names of those eligible will be given to the health maintenance organizations.
The agreement, reached by the social affairs, health and finance ministries, is expected to cost the state NIS 50 million and will come from the Social Affairs Ministry's budget for services to Holocaust survivors. That budget currently covers various needs, including nursing care, dental work, purchasing glasses and hearing aids, etc.
Holocaust survivors aged 75 or above will pay no more than NIS 100 for the medicines they normally receive. The maximum deductible fee for medicines received by Holocaust survivors under the age of 75 will be NIS 125.
Automatic recognition
Social Affairs Ministry data shows that more than 80 percent of Holocaust survivors are older than 75. No special procedure will be required for the survivors to receive the subsidy; it will become automatic once their data is entered in HMO databases.
Meanwhile, the ministry continues to meet with representatives of the Claims Conference and of the Company for Restitution of Holocaust Victims Assets, so the subsidies for medicines will be raised to 100 percent of the cost.
Research in 2009 by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which examined the condition of Holocaust survivors living in Israel, concluded that many suffer from cardiovascular problems and chronic skeletal pain. The study also showed that survivors are prone to suffer from anxiety attacks, and half of their number consider their health to be weak.
Ze'ev Factor, chairman of the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, regretted the delay in reaching the agreement as some 30 Holocaust survivors die on a daily basis.
Factor also expressed his dissatisfaction with the definition of those eligible for the subsidies. "The State of Israel has decided that whoever was in territory occupied by Hitler is not necessarily considered a Holocaust survivor, but a Holocaust refugee. Those recognized as survivors in Israel are only those who were in the German death camps. All those who hid for years or had Aryan documents, are not considered [a survivor]." "Some 100,000 people living among us were not in Hitler's camps and were not under threat of [immediate] death, but they too suffered hardship that affects them to this day," said Factor. "I have argued that every Jew who lived under Hitler's occupation from 1939-1945 is a survivor, and it does not matter how many blows he received or where he hid. They lived in permanent fear for five years and they are survivors just as I was, who was at Auschwitz. My point of view was not accepted."
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An Israeli Holocaust survivor. |
| Photo by: (AP) |
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Every Jew that was under Hitler's occupation from 1939-1945 should be compensated and not just Israel but the whole world that stood by quietly letting the Holocaust happen should share the cost. One day maybe we can offer the same courtesy to old Palestinians who lived under Israel's occupation.
It is unimaginable to me that all holocaust victims, regardless where they lived, are not covered in this medicine subsidy; these Jews were branded, hounded, shot at, straved, berated, made to feel lower than a dog, watched their fellow man killed in unhumane ways right before their eyes and they have to live with this the rest of their lives! One cannot imagine the toll it must take on the human mind much less the stress on the body; we think of our stress today in the work field and all that it is thought to do to us. Surely this is not a matter of monies? Did not the Swiss banks give back monies and treasures to the Jews a few years back; I'm sure not all was recovered but somewhat. The influx of peoples from all over is trememdous but it is predicted in the bible by the Lord for the end time so I'm sure your finanical load is great at this time but surely you can find monies for these exceptional people at the end of their lives.
How much money did Israel receive from Germany as reparations over the years? Given what these people had to go through in order for Israel to receive that money this is really the least they could do. And given the bureaucracy it is probably not enough.
The definition of holocaust survivor as defined for this porpose is totally flawed. The subsidy decided amounts to no more than NIS 625 per survivor. A pittance ! The quality of a society - it is being said - should be measured by the way it treats its most vulnerable members. Judged by above yardsticks, the State of Israel no reason to be proud.
these survivors shouldn't have to pay a cent, they went through hell, germany is paying up while others are donating, so where's the money? just like araft it's in their pockets, governments thinking of themselves and not the people. all of the holocaust survivors should be treated like kings and with respect, nothing less.
the zionists are finally doing something for them? what did you do with the money from Germany, Switzerland etc.? the money from the diaspora? from the USA? ETC?