The Cabinet on Sunday, unanimously approved expanding the free dental care provided to children up to age 12. Until now free care was only up to age 10. Expanding the coverage will allow another 267,000 children to enjoy a range of free dental treatment. The overall number of children eligible for such care will stand at approximately 1.5 million.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked to enable private dentists to provide free care as well and not only via the health funds as has been the case up to now. The Prime Minister said that approving the plan is a welcome step that will save hundreds and perhaps thousands of shekels per annum for the parents of small children.

“This is a social step of the first order and an additional component of the Government’s policy of lowering the cost of living. This plan joins the saving of hundreds of shekels a month thanks to the reform of the cellular phone market, the hundreds of shekels in tax credit points for working parents of small children and at least NIS 800 a month thanks to free education up to age 3. Dental treatments that previously cost huge sums are now free and our hand I stretched out to continue expanding the coverage,” the Prime Minister said.

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman praised the approval of the plan and said, “Dental care reform has led to social justice for Israeli children. Tens of thousands of children will continue to receive free dental care as part of the health basket thanks to this move and we will continue to advance the other stages of the reform.”

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said, “This is an important step for our children’s health. As of today, we have expanded the health basket and it also includes dental care for children up to age 12. This is part of the Government’s objective to ease conditions for the middle class and the lower strata which, up until today, were compelled to pay considerable sums for dental care.”

The dental treatments currently covered by the health basket include first aid, examinations, x-rays, removing plaque, fillings, reconstructions, crowns, extractions, root canal, etc. In 2011, the state financed over two million free treatments.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)