Luzon v. Government of Israel

Israel’s National Health Insurance Law entitled all residents of Israel to become members of a health fund. The health-fund members received free or subsidized medications and health services in a so-called health basket. A professional committee met periodically to decide what medications and services were to be included in the health basket, based on a ranking of their importance. Gila Luzon and other patients (collectively, the cancer patients) (plaintiffs) were cancer patients whose medications were not included in the subsidized health basket. The cancer patients filed a petition against the government of Israel (defendant), arguing that the failure to subsidize the cost of the medications the cancer patients needed violated their constitutional rights. The cancer patients admitted that the right to health was not explicitly prescribed in any law, but they relied on Israel’s basic law, which established a right to human dignity and liberty. After the petition was filed, all but one of the medications became part of the health basket, rendering many of the claims moot. Only one medication, Erbitux, was not included. Erbitux was an innovative medication aimed at treating colon cancer, and at the time, there was no consensus on the effectiveness of the medication for saving or prolonging cancer patients’ lives.