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Choosing a fund, and one window that quietly closes

Health

Registering with a kupat cholim is straightforward. The part almost nobody is told: join supplemental insurance within your first 90 days and the waiting periods are waived. Miss it and they apply in full.

Watch the clock here

  • Join supplemental health insurance within 90 days

    Join Shaban inside your first 90 days and the standard 6 to 12 month waiting periods are waived. Miss it and they apply in full.

Your plan turns these into real dates counted from your aliyah day.

The fees in this area

Every fee, on your own dates

The steps in this domain (2)

  • 1
    Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet or Leumit, via Bituach LeumiIn person

    Choose and join a kupat cholim

    You can register at the airport desk straight after passport control, or later at any Israel Post branch by appointment.

  • 2
    Your kupat cholim

    Join supplemental health insurance within 90 days

    Join Shaban inside your first 90 days and the standard 6 to 12 month waiting periods are waived. Miss it and they apply in full.

Resources (27)

Guide10

  • Supplemental health insurance and the 90-day window

    Join within your first 90 days and the standard waiting periods are waived. The window does not reopen and nobody writes to tell you it started.

    By Yad L'Olim · checked 2026-07-21

  • Choosing between the four health funds

    What Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet and Leumit each offer, and how to register.

    By Nefesh B'Nefesh · checked 2026-07-21

  • Bituach Leumi for new immigrants

    What national insurance covers, when contributions begin for a new oleh, and how registration connects to your health fund.

    By CWS Israel · checked 2026-07-21

  • The six-month contribution exemption

    The rule that decides whether your first half-year of healthcare is free. It is not automatic past six months: the extension to twelve requires you to send National Insurance proof that the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration is paying you subsistence benefits.

    By National Insurance Institute · checked 2026-08-04

  • Disability pension: who qualifies

    Four tests. Residency or an A/5 visa, aged 18 to retirement age. Income under 60% of the average wage, ₪8,261 as of 1 January 2026, for 90 consecutive days in the 15 months before the claim. At least 60% medical disability, or 40% with multiple impairments where one reaches 25%. Earning capacity cut by at least half.

    By National Insurance Institute · checked 2026-08-04

  • Switching health fund: the window chart

    Apply Sep 16 to Nov 15 and you start Jan 1; Nov 16 to Jan 15 starts Mar 1; and so on every two months. New olim get a separate 14-day window to change the fund they were signed up for at the airport. You can cancel up to 10 days before the change date, and your old fund must keep serving you until the switch takes effect.

    By Nefesh B'Nefesh · checked 2026-08-04

  • The 90-day supplemental waiver

    The supplemental plans (SHABAN) cover dental, private specialist consults, treatment abroad and much that the basic basket omits. Enrol inside your first 90 days and there is no waiting period on any of it. After that, standard waiting periods apply.

    By Nefesh B'Nefesh · checked 2026-08-04

  • How Israeli healthcare works

    The four funds are legally identical at the basic level: doctor visits, diagnostics, hospitalisation and subsidised medication. Adult dental and optical are not in the basket. Bring a three-month supply of any regular medication, and note that cannabis-based products cannot be imported at all.

    By Nefesh B'Nefesh · checked 2026-08-04

  • Private insurance versus supplemental

    Over 70% of Israelis hold a supplemental plan. Private policies add transplants and surgery abroad, choice of surgeon, non-basket medications and no-wait diagnostics. Pre-existing conditions are excluded unless the insurer specifically agrees.

    By Nefesh B'Nefesh · checked 2026-08-04

  • Pregnancy and birth

    Care shifts to nurse-led clinic visits around week 12, monthly then twice-monthly from week 32. Israeli hospital births are mostly midwife-run; a private doctor can be hired. Partners are admitted everywhere. Standard stay is two days for a vaginal birth, five for a caesarean.

    By Nefesh B'Nefesh · checked 2026-08-04

Directory2

  • Mental health crisis support

    ERAN emotional first aid 1201, NATAL for war and terror trauma, an immigrant support line on *3201 or *3207, and the four funds’ own mental-health lines. Emergency psychiatric facilities run 24/7 with no referral, and a psychiatric ER visit is free.

    By Ministry of Health · checked 2026-08-04

  • Finding an English-speaking therapist

    Listed therapists must hold post-graduate mental-health training from an accredited university and comply with the association’s ethics code. Includes programmes for soldiers and gap-year students.

    By Israel Association of Mental Health Professionals · checked 2026-08-04

Tool1

  • Matching a foreign prescription

    The Ministry of Health’s registry of every medication registered in Israel: administration form, indications, leaflet and pricing. The authoritative way to identify the local brand of a drug you already take.

    By Ministry of Health · checked 2026-08-04

App4

  • Maccabi

    The member app for Maccabi Healthcare Services. iOS and Android.

    By Maccabi Healthcare Services · checked 2026-08-05

  • Clalit

    The member app for Clalit Health Services. iOS and Android.

    By Clalit Health Services · checked 2026-08-05

  • Meuhedet

    The member app for Meuhedet health fund. iOS and Android.

    By Meuhedet · checked 2026-08-05

  • Leumit

    The member app for Leumit Health Services. iOS and Android.

    By Leumit Health Services · checked 2026-08-05

Organisation7

  • Yad Sarah

    More than 150 types of medical and rehabilitation equipment on free loan, plus emergency call systems, home hospitalisation and hospitality suites near hospitals. Around 244,000 loans a year.

    By Yad Sarah · checked 2026-08-04

  • Clalit: the no-English-site trap

    Clalit covers roughly half the country and provides excellent care, but its member web presence is effectively Hebrew only. The page named "englishrights" renders in Hebrew. If you cannot read Hebrew, factor the self-service gap into your choice of fund rather than discovering it later.

    By Clalit Health Services · checked 2026-08-04

  • Maccabi, in English

    Explains Maccabi’s structure, co-payments and supplemental tiers (Sheli, then Magen Kesef/Zahav) in real English, and its round-the-clock Nonstop call centre with on-call physicians and after-hours home visits.

    By Maccabi Healthcare Services · checked 2026-08-04

  • Leumit for new olim

    The most oleh-focused of the fund pages: a named contact, help transferring in without losing rights, pre-aliyah coverage via Menorah Insurance, and assistance locating community health services.

    By Leumit Health Care Services · checked 2026-08-04

  • Joining Meuhedet

    Funds must accept every applicant with no condition on age or health. Transfer via the Bituach Leumi site or any post office. Ages 18 to 18.5 transfer immediately without waiting for a transfer date.

    By Meuhedet Health Fund · checked 2026-08-04

  • ERAN: emotional first aid for olim

    Run with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. Phone *3201, plus online chat, in English, Hebrew, Amharic, Spanish, French and Russian.

    By ERAN · checked 2026-08-04

  • KeepOlim

    A mental-health and crisis-support movement for olim from any country, with over 500 olim currently in subsidised care, free for lone soldiers.

    By KeepOlim in Israel Movement · checked 2026-08-04

Official form2

  • Health fund registration and the 90-day rule

    Olim with no income, or under NIS 688 a month as of January 2026, are exempt from health contributions for six months, extendable to twelve while receiving Misrad HaKlita support.

    By National Insurance Institute · checked 2026-07-27

  • Joining a health fund: routes and the closing window

    Register at the Ministry of Aliyah desk at the airport on landing day, at any post office branch, or online. The online route opens roughly three weeks after arrival, once Interior Ministry data propagates, and shuts at 90 days.

    By National Insurance Institute · checked 2026-08-04

Grant1

  • The birth grant

    Paid to the account where child allowances are deposited, or for a first birth to the account you give the hospital. Triggered by the hospital birth record rather than an application.

    By National Insurance Institute · checked 2026-08-04

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