Cost of Living
Health and taxes
Health spending should rise substantially, even if taxes rise.
Israel has about 2.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people, against an OECD average of 4.3.
What is at stake
Israel's health system is public and universal, funded by a health tax and the state budget. It has about 2.9 beds per 1,000 people against an OECD average of 4.3, and waiting times are lengthening. Raising spending substantially means new revenue.
The case for
- An underfunded system charges you twice: once in tax, then again in private insurance to skip the queue.
- Doctors and nurses are emigrating. The salaries and posts that would keep them cost public money.
- An ageing population and a high birth rate push demand up faster than the current budget grows.
The case against
- The tax burden on Israel's middle class is already heavy, and VAT rose to 18% in 2025.
- Heavier taxes speed up the departure of high earners, who fund most of the system.
- The health funds and hospitals waste part of the budget they already have. Reform first, tax afterwards.
Both sides get the same number of points at comparable length. That is a rule of this site, not a coincidence.
What the next Knesset could decide
The health tax and the income tax bands are set in law and revised in the annual budget. The basket of covered treatments is decided each year by a public committee, inside whatever envelope the government grants it.