Haim Ramon
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| Haim Ramon | |
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| Date of birth | 10 April 1950 |
| Knesset(s) | 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th (current) |
| Party | Kadima |
| Former parties | Alignment, One Israel, Labour |
| Gov't roles (current in bold) |
Vice Prime Minister Minister in the PM's Office Minister of Health Minister of Internal Affairs Minister without Portfolio Minister of Justice |
Haim Ramon (Hebrew: חיים רמון, born 10 April 1950) is an Israeli politician and Member of the Knesset for Kadima. He was appointed Minister of Justice on 4 May 2006 and announced his resignation from the post on August 18 of the same year, following allegations of sexual misconduct. Despite being found guilty of the harassment, he was reappointed to the cabinet in July 2007 as Vice Premier and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for state policy.
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[edit] Early life to Knesset membership
Born in Jaffa, Ramon served in the Israeli Air Force, rising to the rank of Captain , before studying law at Tel Aviv University. He joined the Labour Party (then part of the Alignment alliance as soon as he left the military, and was secretary of its youth wing from 1978 until 1989. He entered the Knesset in May 1983, replacing Daniel Rosolio, and has been an ever-present member since, except for a period between January 2006 and the elections in March that year (he had to resign in order to switch from Labour to Kadima. He has been a member of various committees, and chaired the finance committee from 1988 to 1992.
[edit] Minister of Health
Ramon was appointed Minister of Health in the government of Yitzhak Rabin in 1992. The National Health Insurance Law was approved during his term of office. Based on recommendations of the Netanyahu Commission (1990), the law went into effect on January 1, 1995.
Before the law was passed, health insurance was optional. Even so, 96% of the population was insured.[1]
According to the new law:[2]
- Employers and the self-employed pay a special health tax (mas briut) which is usually 3.1% to 4.8% of their salary, depending on how much they earn. Persons who receive old-age pensions pay a premium of 2% of the average wage.
- Israel has four health maintenance organizations ("Kupat Holim" sick funds) - Clalit, Meuhedet, Maccabi and Leumit.
- Health insurance in one of these organizations is mandatory.
- Citizens are free to choose the health maintenance organization they want to join. These organizations may not bar applicants on any grounds, including age or state of health.
- The health maintenance organizations are required to supply all services enumerated in the standardized basket.
- Taxes are distributed on a capitation basis, adjusted for the age composition of the health funds.
[edit] Criticism
Some believe that the new progressive health tax has slowed down economic development.
According to a JDC-Brookdale Institute survey conducted in 1996, "approximately 40% of the population reported that they were paying higher health insurance premiums than in the past, while 20% reported that they were paying lower premiums, and another 20% indicated that they were paying about the same (the rest did not know)" [3]
The improvement of health care service quality has been minuscule. Only 18% of the population felt that service levels had improved and 4% felt that they had declined. All the rest (78%) did not feel any change.[3]
Since the passage of the law, all four health care organizations have faced financial difficulty. It should be noted, though, that the previous system provided even fewer incentives for the HMOs to be efficient economically, and that Clalit, the largest HMO, was regularly bailed out of financial trouble via government subsidies.
[edit] Chairman of Histadrut
As health minister, Ramon fought with the Labour establishment on the linkage of the Histadrut Labor Federation and the Clalit Health Fund and issues relating to national health insurance. In 1994, Ramon split from the Labour party to form a list called "New Life in the Histadrut" together with Amir Peretz. In the subsequent election he beat the Labour faction which had controlled the Histadrut since its founding. He proceeded to privatize most of the Histadrut-owned companies. He returned to government after Rabin's assassination, serving as Minister of Internal Affairs under Shimon Peres from 1995 to 1996, when Labour lost power.
[edit] Failed Labour leadership bid
When Labour returned to power in 1999 under Ehud Barak, Ramon was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, overseeing government reform and relations between the government and Knesset. He became Minister of Internal Affairs for a second time in 2000, serving until Barak's government fell in 2001. He opposed Barak's proposals to enter a coalition under Ariel Sharon, and did not participate in the coalition formed in March 2002 by Sharon and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Barak's successor as Labour leader. He ran for the leadership of the Labour Party in November 2002, losing to Amram Mitzna. In January 2005, the Labor Party entered the government of Ariel Sharon and Ramon became Minister without Portfolio, departing in November 2005 with the other Labor ministers.
[edit] Joining Kadima and Lebanon conflict
Following Sharon's break from Likud, and the formation of the centrist Kadima party, Ramon broke from Labour and joined Kadima. He was the first Labour politician to join Kadima. In the present government, formed in 2006 and headed by Ehud Olmert, Ramon was appointed Justice Minister. During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Ramon emerged as one of the most hawkish members of cabinet.
[edit] Indecent conduct and resignation
On July 27, 2006, following a seven-hour police interrogation of Ramon, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz instructed the Justice Minister to refrain from making executive decisions relating to law enforcement, including the appointment of judges and the granting of amnesty, while under a sexual harassment investigation. [4] On the same day Ramon also stated, "Everyone in southern Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hezbollah." [5] On August 17, Israel's Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided to indict Ramon for indecent assault. Ramon has responded by saying: "I am certain of my innocence. The court will prove it." [6] The Movement for Quality Government called on Ramon to step down, and he announced his resignation on 18 August.[7] (The indictment came two days after Tzachi Hanegbi, another former Justice Minister, was also indicted by Mazuz (for fraud, bribery and perjury). He was convicted on January 31, 2007,[8] although he still has the right to appeal. In April 25, 2007 the Israeli Channel 2 news showed exclusive pictures of Haim Ramon while carrying out his community service punishment in The Therapeutic Riding Center of Israel in Tel Mond. In an interview that he gave in the therapeutic ranch to the Channel 2 news reporter Rina Matzliyakh, and had been broadcast in the same report with the pictures, Ramon refused to relate, in the meantime, to his political future, maybe as finance minister in prime minister Ehud Olmert's government, and also admitted that if he was able to roll backwards to one moment in history, he would change the moment that started the affair.
[edit] References
- ^ The Health Care System in Israel- An Historical Perspective Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 26 June 2002
- ^ National Health Insurance Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 September 1995
- ^ a b National Health Insurance: Fourteen Months Later Bruce Rosen, Revital Gross, and Ayelet Berg, 19 March 1996
- ^ Ramon barred from certain decisions while under investigation Haaretz, 31 July 2006
- ^ Bush-Blair call for international force The Christian Science Monitor, 28 July 2006
- ^ Justice Minister Ramon to be indicted Yedioth Ahronoth, 17 August 2006
- ^ Accused Israeli minister to quit BBC News, 18 August 2006
- ^ Ramon found guilty of indecent conduct Ynetnews, 31 January 2007
[edit] External links
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