Following the introduction of dental care to the medical services basket for those aged 72 and older, we appealed to the Ministry of Health along with Physicians for Human Rights. We welcomed the important expansion of dental care to an additional demographic and made some suggestions for improvement:
Apply the expansion as of age 65 and not merely as of age 72;
Strengthen the Ministry of Health’s Dental Health Division so that it may further the reform’s implementation and monitor oversight and supervision of the plan’s implementation;
Conduct public information campaigns on the addition of dental care to the medical services basket in order to inform people of their right;
Check whether deductibles constitute an obstacle to optimal use of the service.
“The reform of integrating dental care into the medical services basket, which was carried out roughly a decade ago, constitutes a significant reform,” wrote Lital Grossman of Physicians for Human Rights and ACRI attorney Debbie Gild-Hayo. “First and foremost, on a practical level, it allows for the receipt of dental care at an equal price for all, including vulnerable demographics unable to partially or entirely afford such treatments; yet its significance also lies in the principled outlook it promotes—first, that dental health is an integral part of public health and should be treated as such; and second, that the public system must ensure quality public health that is accessible to all, regardless of socio-economic status.”