The National Insurance Institute Your rights at the National Insurance Institute - 2019 The National Insurance Institute is at your side in life’s important moments *6050●www.btl.gov.il The National Insurance Institute At your service The National Insurance Institute daily justifies the ethical and humanitarian basis that stood on the agenda on the eve of the decision to establish it. Throughout our continuous operation, residents of the State have received a very broad range of social services and rights, intended to provide a respectable life to them as far as possible. The continuous increase in life expectancy challenges the National Insurance Institute, which is obliged to meet changes as they occur, which directly impact behavior patterns and the needs of citizens. The commitment to ensure a respectable living to all residents is the call of the hour, and the importance of the National Insurance Institute becomes all the more important as it has no replacement. The National Insurance Institute’s employees and management work night and day to reevaluate the degree of fitness of the services we provide, the scope of rights granted the public, and the steps needed to ensure that at the time of need the social insurance of residents will remain intact and in place. In this spirit, employees of the National Insurance Institute are aware of the burden on their shoulders, work as ethical emissaries to provide the most effective, generous, considerate, and respectful service to all residents of Israel. The National Insurance Institute’s management and its employees continuously develop online technological systems that enable a visibly broader range of services to be requested and received by all. This is all available without having to leave your house and walk to the National Insurance Institute branch and with a reduced need to produce documents from various stakeholders. Our policy is to make processes simpler and easier by making the most of our databases; this is part of our worldview which places quality and accessibility of service as the highest possible tasks. This brochure is intended to provide a clear, simple, and friendly guide to the information that the National Insurance Institute is responsible for, including rights and the obligations derived from them. The policy of the National Insurance Institute is to provide the relevant information to the public and make it easier for citizens to make the most of their rights. This is our obligation, our heart’s desire, and our mission. Remember, the National Insurance Institute was founded for you and is intended to serve you! Sincerely, Meir Shpigler Director General Your rights at the National Insurance Institute 1 Table of Contents • Maternal Insurance - Birth Grant, Maternity Benefits, Compensation for risky pregnancies . .4 • Children’s Insurance. .6 • Benefits for soldiers in the reserves . 7 • Grants for discharged soldiers working at preferred positions . .8 • Unemployment Insurance . 9 • Alimony . .10 • Benefits for Victims of Hostilities . 11 • Insurance for Workplace Injuries. .12 • Disability insurance - General disability, special services, children with disabilities . .14 • Mobility compensation. 16 • Insurance for Accident Victims. .18 • Compensation for children orphaned as a result of domestic violence . .18 • Vocational rehabilitation . 19 • Income support pension. 20 • Rights of Employees after the Bankruptcy and Liquidation of a Corporation . 22 • Rights of Volunteers. .22 • Benefits for Prisoners of Zion or the families of Martyrs . 23 • Benefits for the Righteous Among the Nations . 23 • Survivors’ insurance . .24 • Insurance for senior citizens (aging) . 26 • Nursing insurance . .28 • Counseling services for senior citizens and their families . 29 • Appealing Decisions by the National Insurance Institute . .30 • National Insurance Institute Funds . 31 •Payment of National Insurance and health insurance fees . .32 • Service channels at the National Insurance Institute. 36 • International conventions regarding social insurance . 38 • National Insurance Institute Branches . 40 This brochure provides general explanations and should not be viewed as the complete or authorized text of the law. Everything written in masculine applies also to women. 2 The National Insurance Institute The National Insurance Institute is a state institution for social insurance that operates according to the law. Its main function is to ensure a livelihood for the residents of Israel who are unable to earn their own living and assist those who are in need. The National Insurance Institute charges insurance fees from all residents in accordance with their income and position, and pays out allowances and pensions to those eligible according to the law. The National Insurance Institute is also responsible for charging health insurance fees according to the State Health Law and forwards those health insurance fees to the HMOs. The National Insurance Institute pays allowances and pensions to people who are unemployed; to low-income individuals; to people with disabilities or mobility impairments; to victims of work injuries, accidents, and hostilities; to senior citizens; to elderly in nursing care; to families with children; to women on maternity leave; to widows and orphans; to the employees of employers who have gone bankrupt; to soldiers serving in the reserves; to volunteers; and more. Payment of the allowances is intended to ensure financial protection for all residents and families in need, whether temporary or ongoing. By levying insurance fees on the one hand and paying out allowances on the other, income is transferred from more financially well-established groups to those that are weaker and more vulnerable. This way, the National Insurance Institute contributes to a more just distribution of the national income and to the reduction of the poverty rate in Israel. In addition to financial allowances, the National Insurance Institute grants rehabilitation services and professional training to persons with various disabilities and widows, as well as nursing services for elderly who need care and counselling and support services for senior citizens. The National Insurance Institute participates through five funds that we operate to fund projects that develop communal and institutional services for populations with special needs. The projects help these populations assimilate into the working world. The funds provide financial assistance to projects for the benefit of persons with various disabilities, elderly in nursing care, disconnected youth, children at work, populations having difficulty integrating into the working world, and more. To improve the service for insured persons, the National Insurance Institute has developed a computerized information network which enables information accessibility. On our website you will find up-to-date, comprehensive information that includes information, personal service, and the option to receive letters by email. You can perform a variety of operations independently on our website: submit claims and documents online, check your eligibility with calculators, make payments, and coordinate insurance fees. The following are also available for the convenience of the public: self-service kiosks, a national telephone hotline, and a variety of services one phone call away that save insurees the need to visit a branch. Dear citizen, this brochure bundles general information about the allowances and services provided by the National Insurance Institute, which affect all of us at some point in our lives. We hope that this important information will help you exercise your rights at the National Insurance Institute. When you come to check your rights Enter the website of the National Insurance Institute - www.btl.gov.il which contains broad updated information, or call our telephone hotline at *6050. You can also schedule an appointment to receive service at your branch office ahead of time on the National Insurance website. Please note that changes may occur time to time in the laws according to which National Insurance benefits are paid. Your rights at the National Insurance Institute 3 Maternity Insurance Maternity insurance is intended to ensure basic conditions for the mother and baby, as well as recompense the working mother for the loss of income due to pregnancy and childbirth. Terms of Eligibility for Maternity Benefits Hospitalization Grant • To check your eligibility for maternity benefits and If insurance fees were paid for the new mother in This is a grant paid by the National Insurance Institute • calculate the amount of maternity benefits you are 10 out of 14 months or for 15 out of the 22 months to the Hospital for the hospitalization expenses of the owed - enter the maternity benefit calculator on the preceding the “set date” (the date on which she new mother. Parents who have borne children through National Insurance Institute website. surrogacy abroad are also eligible for this grant. stopped working during her pregnancy) - she is Extending maternity leave eligible for maternity benefits for 15 weeks. Birth Grant New mothers are eligible to extend or divide their • If insurance fees were paid for the new mother in maternity leave following a multiple birth (more This grant is paid to new mothers for the co-pay of the 6 out of the 14 months preceding the “set date” (the than one child) or following her or her child’s primary expenses due to the birth. The grant is paid date on which she stopped working during her hospitalization