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Author Topic: Obama and the National Health Exchange  (Read 2268 times)
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WhiskeyGirl
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« on: November 07, 2008, 11:04:43 AM »

While looking at the Rahm Emanuel info on the web, I found this, "National Insurance Institute of Israel" which sounds a lot like the National Health Exchange -

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Provisions of the law

- Every resident must register as a member with one of the health-care organizations.

- The health-care organizations may not bar applicants on any ground, including age or state of health.

- Residents who had been insured with one of these organizations before the law came into effect, will continue to be members of that organization.


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Health Care Services The health care organizations are required to supply all the services enumerated in the standardized basket, within reasonable time and distance from the insured persons homes; they include:
(snip long list of benefits)

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Funding

The sources for funding include:

- Health insurance premiums paid by each resident
- Parallel-tax payments by employers and self-employed persons
- National Insurance Institute funds
- Funds from the Ministry of Health budget
- Consumer participation payments

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The collection of health insurance premiums is progressive: low-income earners pay less and high-income earners pay more. When both spouses are employed, they pay separate insurance premiums.

The maximum income for purposes of health insurance premiums is four times the average wage, that of minimum income is one quarter of the average wage.

Employers and self-employed persons pay 3.1% of the portion of the salary which is equal to half of the average wage, and 4.8% of the rest of the salary (up to a maximum of four times the average wage).


http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1998/7/National+Health+Insurance.htm

It has some interesting ideas, but I think it is well above the Obama 4% solution.

There is even a comment that it does not include tourists in the benefits.   
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WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2008, 11:09:51 AM »

Reducing poverty -

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The NII serves as an instrument for re-distribution of the national income.

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Alleviating Distress
85% of all benefits provided by the State of Israel to its residents are paid by the National Insurance Institute. The main share of these benefits is paid to financially weak families: approximately 42% of all benefits are paid to families in the lower two deciles and only 9% to those in the upper two deciles.

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Just Allocation
NII benefits play an important role in a more equitable allocation of the national income. 60% of all national insurance contributions are collected from families in the top two deciles. The distribution of the benefits increases the share of families from the lower deciles in the national pie and decreases the share of the upper deciles, thus contributing to a reduction of the gap between the poor and the wealthy. After payment of benefits and direct taxes, the inequality in income distribution (based on the Gini index) is reduced by 27%. Two-thirds of this reduction is due to the benefits only.

http://www.btl.gov.il/English%20Homepage/About/Pages/Minimizing%20Poverty%20A%20National%20Goal.aspx

There are also a number of charts on this page.
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It doesn't do any good to hate anyone,
they'll end up in your family anyway...
WhiskeyGirl
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« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2008, 11:20:57 AM »

Critics from 2006 of poverty efforts -

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Israel's poor hit 1.6 million

Mid-year report on poverty by National Insurance Institute of Israel points to continuous rise in number of poor Israelis, yet shows improvement in living conditions of elderly in light of more generous allowances


From the comments section -

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A partial solution to this problem is to instill a better work ethic among our population. Young people should be taught trades and manual labor if they are not academically inclined. There is nothing wrong with working with one's hands.

The tax structure must also be revamped so that the middle and lower classes have more disposible income. Israelis are taxed to death and this puts the squeeze on the average wage-earner. Also, interest rates must be drastically lowered for the same reason. This will encourage more entrepreneurship and start-up businesses.

The last thing we need is more government hand-outs.


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When countless billions are being spent on defense, it's natural that the social situation is getting progressively worse. Defense unfortunately includes the protection of settlements--directly or indirectly. If we concentrated on protecting our rightful borders instead of squandering all this money on subjugating millions of a hostile population, the underprivileged in Israel would be no more.


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In reality the "poor" can buy each year more and more absolute products and getting "richer" in this sense, while relatively they are getting "poorer", which does not mean that they have less and less property, only compared to the rich. So one should not be too excited about it. It is every year the same procedure and does nothing say about israeli economy.

Another point: The leftist not only tell us the truth about the measuring, but also not that a high number of "poor" are Israeli Muslims and Haredim, who have a kind of "culture of poverty". Both groups have a high number of children without a sufficient economic basis for them and bring them for cutlural reasons. Both groups usually use the welfare system, as long as it still gives them enough money to make the day. It is correct to cut children support and don't help more to "poor", who can choose their way of life more or less.

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I am well aware that there are indeed many Israeli families who are actually poor, but for some reason, when I look around me, I see that everyone is buying non-stop. Cars, computers, I Pods, DVD's, cell phones, air conditioners, and new homes or apartments.

Who the hell are these people?

This surely cannot be just one small segment of the population.
Israelis have a way of complaining of how difficult life is here, yet remain one of the most materialistic societies on the face of the globe, mimicking the USA in everything.

The real poor people, the ones like the elderly and new immigrants, who have to clean offices and homes for a living, have just learned to make do and somehow scrape by on a few thousand measly shekels a month, while the rich "poor" moan and whine about how they just can't afford that new car this year, or designer jeans for their kids, or other luxuries.

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As an “ultra” orthodox Jew I propose revamping the strangulating over-taxation policies, and then handouts won’t be needed. A person costing his employer 10,000 shekels a month receives a gross salary of about 9,500 after his employer pays social security, and then social security together with taxes is deducted from his pay check leaving him with less than 7,500. When we consider how much of the persons pay check goes to sales tax on the products he buys, it’s as though his salary is really only 6000. After paying property tax, as well as taxes the government collects from the interest and bank fees on his mortgage, his salary shrinks further. As the taxes on cars and gasoline are over 100%, his salary shrinks further via taxes on his transportation. Then consider the import taxes we pay on imported goods such as washing machines and furniture, not to mention import taxes on raw materials used to produce products in Israel, and the bottom line is that we pay more in taxes to the government than we do for all our other expenses combined. The tax system here is extremely regressive and oppressive.


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3297609,00.html

I want to make sure everyone behind you...
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All my posts are just my humble opinions.  Please take with a grain of salt.  Smile

It doesn't do any good to hate anyone,
they'll end up in your family anyway...
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