The biannual survey by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute has found that Israelis are generally satisfied with the service from the country's four heath funds. The survey, conducted for the Ministry of Health, found that 90% of respondents were satisfied with their health fund in 2009, compared with 88% in 2007.
As in previous surveys, Maccabi Healthcare Services topped the rankings, with a 93% satisfaction rate. Meuhedet Health Fund was in second place, with 92%, followed by Leumit Health Fund with 91%, and Clalit Health Services with 88%. Clalit insures 53% of all Israelis.
In general, the differences between the health funds narrowed, with Leumit showing the best improvement. In the 2007 survey, "only" 86% of its members said that they were satisfied or very satisfied with its services. Clalit also saw improvement, especially among members who said that they were very satisfied with its services, which rose to 32% in 2009 from 20% in 2007.
The rankings of the four health fund in terms of member satisfaction has been consistent in Brookdale surveys over many years.
However, respondents were not satisfied with waiting times for specialists. The wait for a specialist was the same as in 2007: 42% of respondents said that had to wait for up to a week, 17% waited for one to two weeks, and 41% waited for more than two weeks. 55% of respondents said that the waiting times for specialists were "unreasonable".
The survey included a representative sample of 1,903 respondents over the age of 22.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 17, 2010
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