Ukraine ‘deeply disappointed’ after Israel nixes health services for 14,000 refugees due to lack of funds
The offices of the Israeli government agency that assists Ukrainian refugees, last year. Photo by Moti Milrod/Haaretz
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Medical coverage for 14,000 Ukrainian refugees in Israel was suspended on Wednesday due to the Finance Ministry withholding the transfer of funds.
There are now concerns that elderly refugees who joined treatment or caregiving programs will need to drop out due to a lack of insurance coverage.
Over the last year, medical insurance coverage was extended at the end of each month, which destabilized the lives of the refugees. Last month, the Health Ministry announced that it would be unable to take care of Ukrainian refugees’ health insurance any longer, leaving their medical insurance under the responsibility of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry.
The funds the ministry raised for their medical care budget this month soon ran out. The Welfare Ministry assailed the Finance Ministry for withholding funds and stated that the reason for suspending the fund’s transfer is still unclear.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk stated his disappointment and concern over cancelation of medical coverage and called for Israel to “revise their decision.”
“Not only does the Israeli government refuse to sell Ukraine protective measures against the murder of our citizens by the Russians – now Israel is also stopping medical assistance for refugees who fled to Israel from the threat of brutal killing in the hands of the Russians. We call the Israeli government not to turn the back on a basic humanitarian act – concern for the health of our refugees,” Korniychuk said.
Senior officials in the prime minister’s office confirmed that the finance ministry opposes the transfer of funds to cover the refugees’ medical coverage, adding that they believed a source of funding would be found within days.
Despite the claim that the finance ministry opposes funding the medical coverage, on Wednesday Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “of course the [medical] insurance would continue, nobody thinks otherwise.”
According to one senior welfare ministry official, the ministry informed the finance ministry that it cannot make the payments, warning that the insurance could expire. He added that the treasury estimated that a budget would be found at the last moment, as was the case up to now.
The Finance Ministry labeled the welfare and health ministries “indifferent.” The finance ministry says it has not received a professional appeal from the ministries of welfare and health.
According to one treasury official, “things have reached this state since no one was interested in the issue. They are sitting on the fence. When there was a problem with rehabilitation centers, we’d receive appeals every day. When a ministry wants to address an issue, they know how to come and demand, but this hasn’t happened.”
He added that the welfare ministry could have used its budget in order to extend the insurance for another month, but they didn’t do so. We’ve been turning to these ministries for weeks, but no one wants to assume the job out of budgetary concerns. Now, there is no ministry taking things under their wings,” said this official.
For a year and a half, the welfare ministry implemented a government decision to provide humanitarian relief to refugees. The ministry was allocated 100 million shekels ($27 million), with which it assisted 83,000 Ukrainian refugees. 80 percent of this budget was designated for health insurance and services. The ministry has also provided a hotline for Ukrainian refugees to provide food stamps called Tzav Hashaa.
“Regrettably, the government did not extend the insurance coverage, and we call on the finance ministry and the prime minister’s office to immediately solve this issue,” said welfare ministry officials.
They noted that for now, they will continue to provide emergency welfare services and housing assistance for people fleeing the war in Ukraine who are in Israel, but this is just a small part of the ministry’s activities.
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