Ministry Withholds Waiting Time Data as Child Development Reform Stalls

Eight months have passed since the Ministry of Health's child development reform came into effect, designed to phase out private treatment reimbursements. However, Globes has learned that the ministry has withheld health fund waiting time data for six months. During a recent review meeting, Ministry Director General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov stated that waiting time data is irrelevant and that he does not expect queues to shorten.

"I have no realistic expectation that waiting times will drop. As supply increases, demand increases. We are not prepared to present waiting times, only recruitment of professionals," Bar Siman-Tov said. This stance contradicts his statements prior to the reform's implementation on February 1, when he asserted the ministry would not hesitate to pause or alter steps if progress fell short.

The reform aims to strengthen the public sector, which suffers from severe staffing shortages. Until now, treatments were divided into three tracks, with about 53,000 children utilizing the reimbursement track in 2024. The reform gradually eliminates these financial refunds by 2030, divided into five stages backed by 100 million shekels for wage increases.

Despite a Knesset Health Committee directive in January instructing the ministry to publish monthly waiting times by district, no new data has been released since February 2026. Health funds including Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet, and Leumit did not respond to inquiries. Clalit reported waiting times of at least eight months for speech therapy.

Chair of the Israeli Speech-Language Pathologists Association, Zohar Shalmon, criticized the long queues, citing a case where a toddler suspected of autism faces a six-month wait for an urgent diagnosis. Meanwhile, the High Court of Justice recently dismissed a petition seeking to freeze the reform, leaving parents and professionals to bear the long-term consequences.