single payer system with quality

Unlike U.S., Israel health system has universal coverage and is run by the government (single payer). Each citizen pays certain percentage of their income as health care tax and Israel spend less GDP in health care than U.S. There are 4 HMOs in Israel and they compete to attract more citizens with better medical benefits. Like in Japan, the ministry of Health sets guidelines for these 4 organizations by providing a list of medical treatments and services that each has to provide to the members. The undocumented immigrants and minorities in Israel may not have full health coverage due to segregation and lack of development of culture-sensitive health care services but at least they have some access to the health care. The combination of a single-payer system with the possibility to choose between four public providers (HMO) makes the Israel health care system relatively equal and efficient. The bottom line is Israel has fairly better access to care than U.S. while maintaining high quality and controlling the costs from the government.