Israel's four health funds are all nonprofits by law, but two of them control for-profit hospital networks worth hundreds of millions. The governance and commercial structure behind Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet, and Leumit.
Israel's four state-mandated health funds are all legally nonprofit, but two of them sit on top of genuinely commercial, for-profit hospital networks worth hundreds of millions of shekels. Every Israeli resident must belong to one of exactly four Kupot Holim: Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet, or Leumit. None of them can be "bought," but the governance and commercial structure behind each fund differs, with real commercial activity concentrated in two of the four.
Two hospital networks explain most of that commercial activity: Assuta, owned outright by Maccabi, and Medica, the newer network co-owned by Meuhedet and Leumit that consolidated operationally in January 2026.
Clalit: Israel's Largest, Formerly Union-Owned
Clalit Health Services traces to 1911 and was historically tied to the Histadrut labor federation, which required members to join Clalit as a condition of union membership, per Wikipedia's history of Clalit Health Services. Israel's 1995 National Health Insurance Law severed that formal tie and opened Clalit to all citizens regardless of union status. Clalit remains the largest fund by a wide margin, covering slightly over half of Israelis (roughly 4.6 million members), down from a 1995-era 63% market share, per Jerusalem Post reporting on Clalit's market-share history.
It is run as a not-for-profit entity and, uniquely among the four, owns and directly operates its own network of public hospitals rather than relying primarily on independent, contracted physicians, notes the Commonwealth Fund's Israel health system profile. Clalit's clinic-based GPs are salaried employees, and their pay is set through collective bargaining with the Israel Medical Association, a structural holdover from the fund's union origins. Clalit has also become the owner of a medical center in Herzliya in recent years, according to Globes reporting on Israel's private hospital sector, extending its direct-ownership model past the public system.
Maccabi: The Corporate One, and Owner of Assuta
Maccabi Healthcare Services, Israel's second-largest fund with roughly a quarter of the market, was founded in 1940 as a less bureaucratic alternative to Clalit that preserved physician choice and let patients select their own doctors and institutions. Maccabi is also, distinctively, the owner of Assuta, Israel's largest private hospital network by floor space at roughly 90,000 square meters, according to Wikipedia's entry on Assuta Medical Center.
Assuta's Ashdod facility operates as a public hospital under Maccabi ownership as well, per Globes' healthcare-sector reporting on Assuta Ashdod, blurring the usual public and private line. That structure gives Maccabi members direct access to private-hospital capacity the other three funds' members largely lack, and makes Maccabi both an insurer and a hospital operator inside a single ownership structure, a combination none of the other three funds has replicated at the same scale.
Meuhedet and Leumit: Building Medica, Israel's Newest Hospital Network
Meuhedet, formed by a 1974 merger of two earlier funds (one linked to Hadassah, the other tied to the General Zionists' health fund), covers roughly 14% of the market, per Wikipedia's entry on Kupat Holim Meuhedet. Leumit, founded in 1933 by physicians dismissed from the General Health Fund and later formalized under the Revisionist Zionist movement, is the smallest of the four at roughly 9% of members, according to Wikipedia's entry on Leumit Health Care Services, and historically had no hospital access of its own.
Both funds' hospital gaps are now closing through Medica, a private hospital network built from a sequence of acquisitions detailed in Globes' December 2025 report on Medica's launch. Investor Zvi Barinboim, together with Zvi Barak's Caesarea Medical Electronics Holdings, the Arkin family, and investment house Altshuler Shaham, bought the NARA clinics in 2015. Two years later NARA acquired Elisha Hospital in Haifa and took the Medica name. Medica opened the Rosen Medical Center in Afula in 2018, and Meuhedet bought a 40% stake in 2019.
Meuhedet had already taken over Jerusalem's Misgav Ladach hospital in 2005 and converted it into a diagnostic center, per Wikipedia's entry on Misgav Ladach. Leumit joined Medica as a shareholder in 2024, when the network bought Tel Aviv's Raphael Hospital for NIS 550 million from a group of private investors and insurer Harel Insurance Group, a facility originally built on an old Bat Yam hospital license capable of handling almost every type of surgery.
Medica CEO Dr. Shlomi Yisraelit described the shift to Globes in blunt terms: "a process has taken place that amounts to quiet nationalization of private medicine." Most private hospitals now draw most of their work from the public health funds rather than from private insurance, he said. Medica has also built a pathology lab in Rehovot for liquid-biopsy testing, and Meuhedet and Leumit are slated to become owners of the future Sheba Negev public hospital, though Yisraelit says that is still several years away.
Why the Nonprofit Label Doesn't Mean No Ownership Stakes
All four Kupot Holim are legally structured as nonprofit associations under Israeli law and cannot be sold or acquired the way a private company can. But two of them, Maccabi outright and Meuhedet and Leumit jointly through Medica, hold direct equity stakes in for-profit hospital operators. The real commercial ownership map of Israeli private hospital capacity runs directly through the nonprofit health funds, not around them.
Each fund also runs a parallel commercial layer through its supplemental insurance products, sold on top of the mandatory basic basket: Maccabi's are branded Sheli and Zahav, Clalit's are Mushlam and Mushlam Plus, and Meuhedet and Leumit run their own equivalents. These supplemental plans, covering things like private-specialist access without referral and enhanced prescription coverage, are genuinely for-profit-style revenue lines even though the parent fund itself is not. They are a real driver of the competitive differences patients experience day to day.
The Map, at a Glance
| Health Fund | Market Share | Hospital Ownership |
|---|---|---|
| Clalit | ~51% | Owns and operates its own public hospital network directly; also owns a medical center in Herzliya |
| Maccabi | ~25% | Owns Assuta, Israel's largest private hospital network |
| Meuhedet | ~14% | Holds a stake in the Medica private hospital network (since 2019) |
| Leumit | ~9% | Joined Medica as a shareholder in 2024 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Israeli health funds be privately owned or acquired?
No. All four Kupot Holim are legally structured as nonprofit associations and cannot be bought or sold as companies. Their commercial hospital subsidiaries, however, do involve real equity stakes.
Which health fund owns hospitals?
Clalit owns and directly operates its own public hospital network. Maccabi owns Assuta, Israel's largest private hospital chain. Meuhedet and Leumit both hold equity stakes in the Medica private hospital network.
Which is Israel's largest health fund?
Clalit, with roughly 4.6 million members and just over half of the national market as of the most recent published figures.
What is Medica?
Medica is a private hospital network built from a 2015 clinic acquisition, the 2017 purchase of Elisha Hospital in Haifa, the 2018 opening of the Rosen Medical Center in Afula, and the 2024 acquisition of Raphael Hospital in Tel Aviv. Meuhedet and Leumit are its health-fund shareholders.
Do the health funds compete on more than hospitals?
Yes. Each fund also sells its own branded supplemental insurance on top of the mandatory basic basket, Maccabi's Sheli and Zahav and Clalit's Mushlam and Mushlam Plus among them, which functions as a genuinely competitive, revenue-generating commercial layer even though the parent funds remain nonprofit.
Sources
Commonwealth Fund, Israel health system profile; Wikipedia, Clalit Health Services; Wikipedia, Kupat Holim Meuhedet; Wikipedia, Leumit Health Care Services; Wikipedia, Misgav Ladach; Wikipedia, Assuta Medical Center; Jerusalem Post, Clalit market-share history (2023); Globes, Medica network launch reporting (Dec. 2025); The Olam, Harel Insurance Group profile.