Dental treatments reform for older adults in Israel: the first six years

In 2019, a Universal Health Coverage reform of dental services for older adults was implemented in Israel, in order to improve their access to dental care, reduce financial obstacles and decrease inequalities in service utilization. This study aims to examine changes in dental care among elderly over the first 6 years of the reform.

Analysis of the utilization reports submitted by the HMOs to the Ministry of Health between the years 2019 (the beginning of the reform) to 2024. The reports included number of patients treated by type of treatments each year.

During the first six years, the number of treated patients in the framework of the reform increased from 46.6 thousand to 129.4 thousand. During the years 2019 to 2024 there was a significant increase in preventive and first aid treatments (2.7 and 2.2-fold, respectively). Maintenance and surgical treatments increased moderately (1.8 and 1.6-fold, respectively),as well as rehabilitative treatments for 80 + age group and check-ups (1.5 and 1.4-fold, respectively).

During the first six years of the dental treatment reform, there was a notable increase of older adults who received dental treatments at HMOs clinics.