Leumit Health Services (, ''Leumit Sherutey Bri'ut'', lit. ''National Health Care Services'', formerly ''Kupat Holim Leumit'', lit. ''National Sickness Fund'') is an Israeli health insurance and medical services organization, founded in 1933 by the
Revisionist Zionist
Revisionist Zionism is a form of Zionism characterized by territorial maximalism. Revisionist Zionism promoted expansionism and the establishment of a Jewish majority on both sides of the Jordan River. Developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky in the 1920s ...
Movement. As of 2020 it is the smallest of the four Kupot Holim (Israel's state-mandated health funds), and has over 700,000 members.
History
Kupat Holim Leumit was established in 1933 by physicians who had been dismissed from their work in the General Health Fund (
Clalit
Clalit, (, General Health Services; previously – , General Sick Fund), is the largest of Israel's four state-mandated health service organizations, charged with administering health care services and funding for its members. (All Israeli citize ...
) following
Arlosoroff
Haim Arlosoroff (23 February 1899 – 16 June 1933; also known as Chaim Arlozorov; ) was a Socialist Zionism, Socialist Zionist leader of the Yishuv during the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine, prior to the establishment ...
's murder. Dr. opened the first clinic at his home in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
.
In 1940 the poet
Uri Zvi Greenberg
Uri Zvi Greenberg (; September 22, 1896 – May 8, 1981; also spelled Uri Zvi Grinberg) was an Israeli poet, journalist and politician who wrote in Yiddish and Hebrew.
Widely regarded among the greatest poets in the country's history, he was a ...
wrote that the fund's function was "to educate and cure."
Abba Ahimeir
Abba Ahimeir (, ; 2 November 1897 – 6 June 1962) was a Russian-born Israeli journalist, historian, and political activist. One of the ideologues of Revisionist Zionism, he was the founder of the Revisionist Maximalist faction of the Zioni ...
added: "The
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
must be taught to be healthy even when they are ill".
The uniqueness of the Leumit Health Fund lay in offering members the right to select the physician and medical service of their choice.
The fund's first manager, Mr. Melamedowitz, declared that the fund would be open to everyone and patients would be treated as acquaintances, not numbers.
Today Leumit Leumit operates more than 300 medical centers and 100 pharmacies nationwide.
See also
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Health care in Israel
Healthcare in Israel is Universal health care, universal and participation in a medical insurance plan is compulsory. All Israeli residents are entitled to basic health care as a fundamental right. The Israeli healthcare system is based on the N ...
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Health maintenance organizations
Medical and health organizations based in Israel
Organizations established in 1933
1933 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew