Expat insurance and health insurance in Israel

Israel has applied the National Health Insurance Law since 1995, which organises universal coverage for residents recognised by the National Insurance Institute (Bituah Leumi). Funded by a progressive health tax, it is redistributed to the four health funds (kupot holim: Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet, Leumit) using an age- and headcount-based capitation formula. Every resident over 18 must contribute, regardless of status (employee, self-employed, non-working, retiree), and freely chooses their fund.

Eligibility depends on recognition of resident status by Bituah Leumi — the actual centre of life in Israel — not on nationality. A foreigner on a temporary stay (B/2 tourist visa, volunteer, some B/1 work visa or A/2 student visa holders) is generally not recognised as a resident and therefore has no access to the public scheme: some funds offer "tourist plans", but with limited benefits (childbirth, for example, is often excluded). Access to care then almost always goes through the private sector, billed in full in the absence of insurance.

• B/1 work visa: the employer must provide private health insurance covering the entire length of the permit, required by the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA) as part of the work permit application.
• A/2 student visa : an insurance policy valid for the whole length of stay must be attached to the visa application, before departure, at the relevant Israeli consulate.
• Volunteers (Jewish Agency/Sokhnout, Massa Israel, Sar-El programmes...): health insurance (including Covid-19 depending on the organisation) is a condition of participation set by the sending organisation, not by Israeli law itself — the exact level of cover varies by programme.
• B/2 tourist visa: no longer a legal entry condition since May 2023 (it was in the past, notably during the Covid period). In practice, a tourist without cover bears the full cost of any medical care and may be refused exit from the country if a bill is unpaid.

No specific fine has been identified for lacking coverage, outside the B/1 and A/2 cases where insurance is a condition for the permit or visa to be issued at all. The real risk is direct financial exposure: Israeli patient-rights law only requires that a written quote be given before planned care, not that it be free.

A bilateral social security agreement exists between France and Israel, signed on 17 December 1965 (entered into force 1 October 1966, administrative arrangement of 25 May 1967) — but it reserves most of its effects for employees and does not cover health insurance or disability insurance. It eases the transfer from the French scheme to the Israeli scheme upon hiring and allows, via form SE 207-02, French insurance periods to be counted toward opening rights to Israeli maternity benefits.

• No coordination on health insurance: no cover of care by French social security, on either side.
• A family remaining in France while an employee works in Israel must check their rights directly with French funds: the Israeli scheme does not cover them.
• No provision on unemployment insurance.

With no health coordination, voluntary affiliation with CFE or international private insurance remains the only option for recognised cover for care in Israel or a temporary return to France.

• Before departure: check the exact status of the stay (tourist, volunteer, student, employee) to know which insurance obligation applies, and take out health + repatriation cover accordingly.
• Before departure: check the France Diplomatie Security section for Israel, regularly updated — a separate matter from health insurance, but worth checking systematically.
• B/1 work visa: check with the employer that the insurance provided covers the entire length of the permit before the PIBA file is submitted.
• A/2 student visa: attach the insurance policy to the visa application filed at the relevant Israeli consulate.
• Volunteer: get the exact details of the insurance required for the chosen programme from the sending organisation (Jewish Agency/Sokhnout, Massa Israel, Sar-El...).
• Within 6 months of arrival: register with the roll of French nationals living abroad, free and valid for 5 years, at the French Consulate General in Tel Aviv.
• For a seconded employee: check the rights of family remaining in France directly with French funds, as the France-Israel agreement does not cover them.