Disability Pension / ביטוח לאומי

(As stated by the National Insurance Institute of Israel on their website)

Conditions of Entitlement

An Israeli resident who is at least 18 years old, but has not yet reached retirement age, and is disabled due to a physical, intellectual or mental impairment resulting from an illness, accident or birth defect, is entitled to disability benefits.

Conditions of entitlement for disability pension are as follows:

Age and residency: You are an Israeli resident, you are between the ages of 18 and retirement age.

A minor, between the ages of 16 and 18 may be entitled to the pension if he or she was a "working minor" immediately before sustaining his/her earning incapacity.

Income from work: You either do not work or your income as a salaried employee or self-employed person is under 60% of the average wage, i.e. NIS 7,522 (as of Jan 01, 2024).

Please note: A married woman without an occupation shall be examined as a housewife, if she did not work for 12 consecutive months or 24 non-consecutive months within the 48 months that preceded the day of submission of her claim for a disability pension or termination of her work - if termination of work occurred after submission of the claim.

Medical disability (including qualifying mental health disabilities): You were determined, by a physician from the National Insurance Institute of Israel (NII), a medical disability degree of at least 60%, (or at least 40%, if you have several medical impairments and a medical disability of at least 25% was determined for a single one of them).  Click HERE for the list of qualifying disabilities. Mental health information begins on part four of the document, clause 106.  

Incapacity degree: It has been established that, due to your disability, you cannot work or your capacity to earn a living has been diminished by at least 50%, and a degree of earning incapacity of 60%, 65%, 74% or 100% has been determined for you.

Disability Pension for a Housewife

A married woman who did not work for a long while shall be examined under a different track for purposes of receiving a disability pension for a housewife.

Examination under the housewife track is performed if she did not work for 12 consecutive months or 24 non-consecutive months within the 48 months that preceded the day of submission of her claim for a disability pension or termination of her work - if termination of work occurred after submission of the claim.

How to Submit the Claim

A claim for a general disability pension may be submitted from age 18, and up to 12 months past retirement age.

You can now fill out your claim form and send all necessary documents by means of a service representative, over the telephone at *3928.

The representative will fill out and submit the claim for you over the phone and help you with the submission of documents. 

Documents to be submitted:

• Claim Form for Disability Pension (claim form can be found online at http://bit.ly/nii_form)

• Medical documents - diagnostic summaries or any other medical document pertaining to your medical/mental health condition, detailing all chronic diseases, treatments and medications. List of medical documents here. 

• Employed person - you must submit the following documents:
  1. Last 15 pay slips or a certificate from your employer indicating the period of employment and salary (the certificate for your employer is available on the claim form).
  2. A list of sick leaves paid by the employer for the period you did not work over the last 15 months, or any payment confirmation from the insurance company regarding the illness.

• Self-employed persons - you must submit to the NII%27s Department of Insurance and Collection a declaration on the changes in your work and income due to the disability, and provide the last tax assessments in your possession.

• Income from other sources than work - a list of income for the last 15 months, such as retirement pension (in Israel or from abroad), stipend received by Yeshiva students, child support, inheritance income etc.

• Power of attorney - if the person submitting the claim and whose signature appears thereon is not the claimant himself, please fill-in article 4 of the claim form as well and attach to it a power of representation, guardianship order or court decision.

Ways to submit documents

The claim and above mentioned documents may be sent by one of the following ways:

• Service representative over the telephone at *3928 - helps with filling out the claim and submitting documents.
• Fill out the claim form electronically and submit it online with additional documents attached to it.
• Fill out the claim form in writing, and send it with additional documents attached to it through the NII website.
• Submit the claim and the documents by mail, fax or in the service box of your local NII branch.

After submitting the claim, you will be summoned, if necessary, to an examination by the Medical Board, and in case you have severe disabilities, your claim will follow the "fast track" handling process.

Important: You are entitled to receive, free of charge, advice and preparation to Medical Boards by "Helping Hands" centers. To schedule an appointment, dial *2496

"Helping Hand” centers%27 services involve:

• Help in submitting a claim and in preparing a medical file

• Explanation on claim handling process

• Personal assistance in handling a Medical Board and appearance before the board

 If you or your family do not have any income at all, you should check your eligibility for income support until you start receiving a disability pension. 

If you have a disability in your legs, you can submit a request for a medical examination to determine mobility disability. 

Payment of a disability pension to a person hospitalized in a public institution

A disabled person who stays in an inpatient institution receives everything he needs from the institution in which he is hospitalized. Therefore, a person entitled to a disability pension who is hospitalized in an institution that is a public body (such as Mental Health Centers and institutions acknowledged by the Ministry of Social Affairs), and more than half of his personal expenses are covered  by the institution in which he is hospitalized, his pension will be divided between the entitled and the public institution.

The amount of pension share varies according to the pension entitlement of the disabled, increment for a spouse and children, and the type of hospitalization. The public institution is responsible for submitting a request for pension share to the National Insurance Institute.

The process of handling the claim

 1. The claims officer at the local National Insurance Institute of Israel (NII) branch examines the claim

The claims officer checks the following:  

• Whether you filled out the claim form in its entirety, or there is information missing

• Whether you attached all the required documents

• Whether you meet the conditions of entitlement to the disability pension

Important: attachment of all the required documents to the claims form will shorten the process of the handling of the claim.

 2. A National Insurance Institute%27s doctor examines the claim 

The NII%27s doctor checks the following:

• Your declaration regarding your medical/mental health condition

• The medical/mental health documents that you attached to your claim form (you may be required to bring additional documents). In cases of mental disability, the NII contacts the relevant parties in order to obtain the documentation.

• Whether to summon you to a medical board, and if so, which doctor and medical advisors to summon to that board

• Whether you are dependent on the help of others to carry out daily activities; if so, you will be summoned to a special medical board that checks your entitlement to an attendant

After the NII has gathered all the required documents, you will receive a notification to appear before a medical board (it is possible that you will not have to appear in person).

Please note: the medical board is composed of one doctor who specializes in a certain area. Therefore, if you have additional impairments, you may be summoned to a number of boards.

3. Appearing before a medical board

In the medical board, the doctor:

• Examines the medical documents in your file before your arrival

• Hears from you about the impairments from which you suffer, and if needed, performs a physical examination

• Determines the degree of your medical/mental health disability

• Examines to what extent your medical/mental health impairments influence your capability of going out to work and earning a living (for a housewife: to what extent they influence your capability of performing household duties).

Please note: The members of the medical board may pause the evaluation of your claim and request additional medical examinations or documents if needed. The board doctor is not authorized to decide on the medical treatment that you require, but rather to determine your degree of medical disability only.

Receiving the decision on the claim

The claim returns to the claims officer in the Disability Department, who then:

• Examines your income information again, in relation to the degree of disability that was determined for you

• Determines to what extent your medical/mental health disability influences your capability of going out to work and earning a living, based on the recommendation of the doctor and of the rehabilitation clerk.

After all the examinations, the decision on your claim will be sent to you by mail, together with the report of the medical board.

After receiving a ruling on your claim, if you think the decision is not fair, you may appeal it: http://bit.ly/nii_appeal

The information above was compiled by Get Help Israel.