You are cordially invited to a lecture by Prof. Nadav Davidovitch from The Department of Health Systems Management, Head of the School of Public Health:
From the National Health Insurance Law to COVID-19: Rethinking Private Public Relationship within the Israeli Health System
The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed multiple sectors, exposing pre-existing structural inequities and chronically underfunded healthcare and other public systems. While the race towards a COVID-19 vaccine and effective treatments has been one of the most successful its fruits have not been available to all and in the meantime, entire populations have been affected physically, mentally, and socially. Ultimately, the most vulnerable carry the burden of the outbreak in terms of marginality, stigma and economic hardships. The pandemic raised many questions on the relationship between the public and private sectors, both on national and global scale. In many ways these questions are not new, but reflect existing struggles in currents health systems globally.
In my presentation I will evaluate the impact of public–private collaboration in the Israeli health care system, since the enactment of the Israeli National Health Insurance Law (NHIL) up to a variety of health reforms and the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the entrance of the NIHL, Israel encountered the fastest rate of increase in private financing and supply of health services in the world. The Israeli case epitomizes how boundaries between the private and public sector become blurred when health care services are subject to privatization, both of financing and supply. Using case studies from ongoing research in the last two decades, ranging from the growth of private insurances to the privatization of the School Public Health services, I will argue that the continuous growth of public–private relationships in health care results in systems that lack both equity and efficiency. This has also implications for dealing with health inequities, another complementary focus of my health policy research.
This Rector's Lecture Series is a wonderful opportunity to engage with academics from different fields and share the fruits of their research and ideas.
Following the lecture, you are invited to continue the discussion over refreshments.
Please register here
