Health, transport, food: How the budget affects our lives

• Author: Oren Dori
• Published date: 08 November 2021
• Publication title: Globes (Rishon LeZion, Israel)

So how will the budget affect our pockets and quality of life? It depends. For example, we'll pay more for disposable utensils, sweetened beverages, parking in cities, and, from 2025, we'll pay to enter Tel Aviv in a private vehicle. On the other hand, the reform on imports that will come into effect in six months' time should mean greater price competition in food, cosmetics, and other items.

More hospital beds

The increase in the health budget is partly meant to cover expenditure incurred because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but is it also for employing more doctors and nurses and increasing the number of hospital beds. Queues in the health system will not become shorter from tomorrow morning, since doctors and nurses can't be created out of nothing, but things should get better in the long term. The money released in the 2021 budget will allow more places for medical and nursing students, which will mean more medical staff in the coming years.

An important element in the quality of life in Israel is transport, which will be dealt with through the plans for developing the railways, upgrading bus services, and getting the Tel Aviv metro project underway - setting up the authority to manage the project is part of the Economic Arrangements Law.

Here too, the traffic jams will not disappear tomorrow, but some relief is on the horizon, such that alongside the congestion charge and higher parking costs in cities, people will also have the alternative of leaving their cars at home.

Another impact of the budget and the Economic Arrangements Law is on women, for whom the retirement age will gradually rise from 62...