Under the National Health Insurance Law 5754-1994,
every Israeli resident is entitled to health-care services. In reality, many East-Jerusalem children, born to parents only one of whom is an Israeli resident, are denied the right to health care, because health-care services depend on registration in the Israeli population register, and these children are not automatically registered and given identity numbers at birth. In fact, the registration of these children is achieved only after an exhausting and protracted procedure, whereby the parents must prove that for the two years preceding the child's birth, their "center of life" was in Israel; this, contrary to cases where both parents are Israeli residents or citizens, whose children are registered and given identity numbers at birth.
In 2001, following a
petition to the High Court of Justice, filed by HaMoked and other human rights organizations (HCJ 2100/99), an arrangement was formulated and recorded as a
court judgment, whereby the National Insurance Institute (NII) would register under a temporary number children who have only one Israeli-resident parent, within a week from birth (or at once, in cases of medical emergency); this temporary number would enable their health insurance coverage, to which they are entitled by law. The NII's temporary numbers would be replaced by permanent identity numbers once the children are finally registered by the Ministry of Interior. The arrangement concerned "children" without any age restriction, however, in 2009,
the NII published a new procedure, whereby the temporary number is revoked for children over 18 month old, thus depriving them of health-insurance coverage. From then on, the NII refused issuing temporary numbers to children over one year old, even if applications for their registration had been filed.
In July 12, 2011, the Jerusalem Regional Labor Court held a joint hearing over 21 claims against the NII, mostly filed by HaMoked, concerning children who did not receive health-care services because they were not listed in the population register. The Court joined the hearings of the claims to decide on the common issue of principle – the right to health insurance of children not yet listed in the population register, who have one Israeli-resident parent.
In the hearing, HaMoked asserted that the children are entitled to health insurance under the National Health insurance Law, which does not subject the right to health-care services to registration in the population register.
Furthermore, HaMoked argued that the NII's policy was unreasonable and unbalanced, and that its practices were violating both the basic right to health services – as part of the right to bodily integrity and life – and the right of Israeli residents' children to equality. HaMoked added that the violation was all the more striking since, in most cases, the child and his parents have no control over the child's lack of registration, which results the interior ministry's policy and practice.
In its summations to the Court, the NII argued that children over one year old who do not appear in the population register, are not "Israeli residents", and therefore are not entitled to health insurance. Still,
the NII announced that the temporary number would remain valid until the child turns two, and if proof is provided that an application for the child's registration has been submitted and is still being processed by the interior ministry, “due to matters unrelated to the resident parent,” the number would remain valid until the child is 36 months old.
On June 2, 2013,
the Court issued its decision on the issue of principle. The Court dismissed HaMoked's claim that for the purpose of health insurance, the NII has sole authority to establish these children's "residency status", and ruled that "children, one of whose parents holds a permit of permanent resident in Israel, are not entitled to health insurance under the National Health Insurance Law, so long as their status has not been finalized by the interior ministry." However, the judge noted that this decision in no way detracts from the arrangement reached in HCJ 2100/99. With regard to HaMoked's claim as to the protracted registration process of these children, the Court ruled that this was a direct challenge of the decisions and policy of the interior ministry, which should be determined in the framework of individual administrative petitions to the District Court, which has jurisdiction on such matters.
HaMoked maintains its position that a proper arrangement must assure that any child who has at least one Israeli-resident parent, will be entitled to health insurance from birth and until such time as her civil status is finalized by the interior ministry, without a time limit. Such an arrangement will be in keeping with the State's undertaking to the HCJ, and the National Insurance Law, and ensure that human rights and constitutional rights are respected. Therefore, HaMoked intends to appeal against the decision to the National Labor Court.
