Complementary Medicine in Israel

Abstract

In recent years, the status of complementary medicine in Israel has appeared frequently on the public agenda. The debates and the newspaper headlines concerned with this subject usually deal with legal aspects of the subject, including the relation between complementary medicine and the medical establishment. With the enactment in 1995 of the Compulsory Health Insurance Law, debate over the issue intensified, with the public divided over any proposal to make complementary medicine part of the services guaranteed by law. This paper addresses the current status of complementary medicine in Israel, describes the introduction of complementary medicine to Israel, attitudes toward it of both consumers and medical professionals, and the question of its legal status. While no comprehensive survey describing all aspects of this subject in Israel has yet been undertaken, this paper is based on a survey of the professional literature in Israel, especially that of the Israeli scientific-medical community, a survey of the general press, and an analysis of the health insurance law and its position with respect to the complementary medicine.