2023-08-15 09:30:22
The day centers for the elderly throughout the country were shut down this morning (Tuesday) and closed their doors to the 15,000 elderly who come to them every day, in protest of not increasing the rate paid to them by the Ministry of Welfare. The association of associations that operate day centers (LAB) and the Matab association that operates day centers throughout the country warn of “the collapse of the centers and fatal harm to the elderly in nursing care.”
According to the operating associations, the failure to update causes damage estimated at millions of shekels, due to the price increases, and as a result the centers are left with heavy deficits that threaten their continued functioning.
Ofra Berger, director of today’s central department at the Matev association, described the crisis in a conversation with Davar: “Since the indemnity for the Corona period ended, we returned to the rates of 2019, but outside it is no longer 2019. This is expressed in everything: fuel, transportation, food, employee wages. We are not successful To hold the centers of the day”.
Berger emphasizes that “we are not looking for profits, we just need to be in balance. We have no intention of making half a shekel profit. But right now we are in a deficit that does not allow us to do anything. A strike is not something that is in our glossary, certainly not in the values that lead us. We work Almost all year, including holiday eves and Hol HaMoed, and to suddenly come to a situation where we stop and close the centers, for us it is a very difficult and painful thing.”
“We do feel that our work is appreciated, that there is recognition of the service and its necessity. The rate simply needs to be updated, like everything else in recent times. And for the state, it’s really not a lot of money.”
Prices and wages have risen, the rate remains the same
About 180 day centers for the elderly operate throughout the country, whose role is to provide a social and health safety net for the elderly, to allow the senior citizen and his family members to receive supportive services and to prevent or postpone their removal from home to an institutional setting. The centers are operated through associations that access the centers in the local authorities every five years and are under the supervision of the senior citizen service at the Ministry of Welfare.
The centers are open 5-6 days a week, from morning to afternoon, and include transportation from home to the center and back, breakfast and hot lunch, assistance with personal hygiene as needed (bathing, shaving, manicure, pedicure, laundry service, etc.), physical therapy and occupational therapy, nurse examination, Preventive care, social care and geriatric and nutritional counseling for the senior citizen and his family, as well as social and occupational activities such as physical activity, classes and enrichment activities (computers, gardening, pets, crafts and more), lectures, movies, games and competitions, trips, parties and more.
About 95% of visitors to the day center are referred to it by the National Insurance. The National Insurance pays the day center for each patient per day, according to two rates: a low benefit and a high benefit, according to his dependency, when in addition the visitor himself is required to pay a deductible of NIS 15 per day. For each visitor with a low benefit, the National Insurance pays the day center NIS 130 per day (145 including the visitor’s participation), and for a high benefit NIS 184 per day (199 including the visitor’s participation).
Between the associations and the Ministry of Welfare there is a binding agreement according to which the Ministry determines from time to time the rate to be paid to the associations for their expenses within the framework of the day center. But despite the increase in prices in the economy, including the revision of the minimum wage that was carried out not long ago, the rate that centers receive today remains unchanged. As a result, there is no match between the low rate paid and the actual expenses of the day centers in accordance with the requirements and standards of the Ministry of Welfare, and precisely because of this, many day centers are in deficits that threaten their continued functioning.
About a month and a half ago, 39 associations operating 61 day centers for the elderly filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Social Affairs for not updating the rates paid to the day centers for the elderly. In their lawsuit, the associations demanded an increase in the minimum budgeting amount for the elderly to a total of about NIS 200 per day for an elderly person with a low benefit level and about NIS 260 per day for an elderly person with a high benefit level, including adding the cost of travel to the budgeting.
Ministry of Social Affairs: “We undertake to raise rates”
In response to the strike, the Ministry of Welfare announced last week that it is working to increase the rates: “The Ministry of Welfare and Social Security sees the day centers as an effective and high-quality solution to alleviate loneliness and functional preservation for senior citizens and initiated a reform to improve the service as well as to expand the economic base of the centers.”
According to the ministry, “The ministry has already committed to raising the rates it pays to the centers by a total of NIS 20 million per year, and at the same time we are working with the Ministry of Finance and National Insurance to bridge the gaps and reach agreements regarding the balance of the necessary budget. It should be noted that the Ministry of Welfare monitors each center and prevented the closure of Day centers that ran into difficulties.”
The Ministry of Finance chose not to comment.
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