So What's New?

I would like to start by talking about Israeli healthcare. Some people think that it is socialized medicine. That is not exactly correct. The gov't provides a very basic program and in addition to that there are 4 health insurance companies ( HMO's) that sort of compete for your business. The reason I say sort of is because it seems that depending on where you live one is usually stronger than the others( more locations , doctors etc..).

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts ( 5 years ago, oh my) When you make Aliyah, one of the first things you need to do is signup to one of these organizations. We were told that Maccabi is the best for where we live , so that is what we chose.

I have been through 3 primary doctors ( various reasons) but basically like the new one. That said I still do my annual checkup in NYC. I am not sure why because looking back I can see that mine made a few mistakes ( maybe time to switch there , any recommendations?).

Once you have made your choice of HMO, you can upgrade to a better plan. This comes at the high cost of about $300 USD a month. This gives you a slew of benefits such as unlimited massages for $18 a pop .

In addition to this , you can add private insurance which will run an additional $300 a month. This will provide you access to some of the best doctors and faster service ( like getting an MRI In two weeks instead of two months). Now you do have to pay for the doctors, MRI's etc. but the insurance returns 70% of what you spend. In addition, overall,  the medical services in Israel are less expensive.

For an example, let's take a private MRI . I have heard it will cost around  $7,000 in the USA . Here  $1750 of which I get 70% back so the total is around $500

Not bad.

Which leads me to why I know so much about MRI prices. As mentioned in the last post, I decided to do one here in Israel. I went to the head of the radiology department ( yay private medicine). She basically saw the same thing as the radiologist  in NY but since I can not get a copy of the NY one, there is no way to compare if anything is getting better or worse.  The Israeli urologist reviewed it and said if he was the doctor doing the biopsies, he would do another, just in case.

Same thing the USA doctor said.

So that is happening in about a month.

While the health care, is very decent ( just ask someone who is not from the USA , like a Brit) and not very expensive ( again depending on where you are from) everything else here is ridiculously priced.

Recently, all the major food companies announced, that due to inflation , they must raise their prices 10% and more. That may not sound like a lot compared to other countries but the problem is that Israel's food prices are among the highest anywhere.

Here is a list of prices for inexpensive restaurants ( https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?itemId=1 ) Israel is number 6.

The OECD consistently ranks Israel among the top for cost of food. The fact is , that the Israeli importers of food are among the most profitable in the world. This is basically due to the  monopolistic nature of the distributors and what can only be collusion ( though I do not have proof) amongst the retailers. I say this because prices are near identical across the board no matter where you shop.

I have mentioned before ( ad nauseum) how I voted for Avigdor Lieberman 3 times ( it would have been 4 but I was overseas for one of the elections). He is currently finance minister and I think he is doing a great job ( the Haredim do not agree as he is cutting their child subsidies and raised prices on plasticware imports which seems to effect the Haredim more than anyone else) . He announced last week that he was going to investigate the major importers to see if the price increases were justified.

Now, being a libertarian, I should find this appalling. The market should rule.

Except that does not work in a society of monopolies .

So guess what happened after Lieberman's announcement?

Come on, guess.

Well, the companies announced that they would be delaying the increases.

Imagine that.

Over the years there have been many protests held and movements started , to combat the outrageous  cost of living here. They all fade away eventually because we are always reminded about bigger issues like Iran or Hezbollah , Islamic Jihad, Hamas ...   well you get it.

The current government has many good ideas to how to deal with the cost of living issues, I just hope they stick around long enough to see them through.

There is so much more I wanted to write about , Whoopi, Apartheid , my wife getting Covid, me not getting it and more  etc.

Hang tight. I will get to it soon

Shabbat Shalom