Israel’s statutory health basket defines the services and medicines the four health funds must provide. Each year, a public committee reviews proposed additions and recommends which medicines and technologies should be funded within available resources. The government makes the final decision on the annual expansion.
The process addresses a practical constraint: new treatments can outnumber the resources available to fund them. The committee assesses evidence and priorities across fields rather than simply adding every new product.
From applications to recommendations
The Ministry of Health’s process gathers proposals for medicines and technologies, evaluates them, and develops recommendations. The legal basket is the baseline entitlement; annual decisions add defined medicines, indications, and services under specific conditions.
Cost matters because the annual budget is finite, but the decision is not simply a price ranking. The Ministry describes professional, clinical, and economic considerations. The committee compares expected health benefit and need with available alternatives and the consequences of funding one addition rather than another. Its recommendation then goes to the government for approval.
The annual budget sets the limit
The size of the available addition shapes the choices. The Ministry reported that the 2026 committee had a 650 million shekel budget. It later reported government approval of recommendations adding medicines and technologies at a stated cost of 86.45 million shekels. Those figures apply to that year and are not a permanent annual amount.
Basket funding is part of a larger system. Health insurance contributions, co-payments, and state funds support the health funds’ basket obligations. See how the four health funds deliver the basket.
How to interpret a decision
An addition applies according to its approved indication and eligibility rules. It does not mean unrestricted access for every patient or use of a medicine for every condition. Patients and clinicians should check the current basket entry and their fund’s implementation details.
Read the Ministry of Health committee page, its health basket updates, and the Knesset report on basket costs.