The American basketball player Chris Wright, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has become a member of the Israel Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Over the last few months, the Society has been trying to help Chris Wright find an insurance company that will provide him with health insurance.

The State of Israel has granted the player an entry visa and work license; however, the Harel Insurance Company is not prepared to insure him.

Chris is in Israel now, and cannot go on to the field and actively join his team – HaPoel Holon- as he does not have health insurance. Instead, he has been forced to spend his time dealing with bureaucratic inflexibility and obduracy.

HaPoel Holon took upon itself to bring this sportsman and human being to Israel, after receiving high professional and personal recommendations of him, and his health issue did not deter the team.

The insurance company’s refusal to insure Chris Wright, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, is in fundamental violation of the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law. This law applies to every person, and obviously it applies to foreign workers coming to Israel with entry visas and work licenses.

According to this law, the insurance company’s refusal to insure a person with a disability constitutes a grievous violation of the law, unless the insurance company can prove that such person is not insurable at all from an actuary aspect.

The law requires insurance companies to provide a reasoned notice, in writing, showing the actuary calculations proving the justification of their refusal to insure.
Harel Insurance Company has failed to do so, but rather rejected the claim without grounds and without any actuary foundation.

From this aspect, the Supervisor of Insurance failed to examine the rejection, and found it sufficient to put out a vague statement stating that the company has the right to refuse insurance.

The question of whether the company had fulfilled the requirements of the law was not addressed in any way.

If the insurance company fails to give the grounds for its refusal, as it is so required by law, it is impossible to establish whether such refusal is legally based and justified. In this situation an important Israeli law is completely disregarded and made irrelevant.
According to the report put out by the Antitrust Supervisor for the year 2014, the Harel Company holds 67% of the market for insuring foreign workers.

In other words, according to the Antitrust Law, this is a monopoly, and a monopoly cannot refuse to provide a service when there is no basis for such refusal.

Moreover, this is an area of insurance which is without competition, a cartel market protected by the law with regard to competition from foreign insurance companies. Under Israeli law, foreign insurance companies cannot insure in Israel.

In the case of the player Chris Wright, who has played throughout Europe – in France, Turkey and Italy, where he was provided medical insurance without any problem.
Under these circumstances a situation has been created wherein Israeli insurance companies are protected from competition by foreign companies and act as a monopoly, insuring only those it is worthwhile to insure, making a laughingstock of the Equal Rights for Persons with Disablities Law.

Chris Wright made history when he played in the NBA for the Dallas Mavericks, becoming the first person with multiple sclerosis to ever to play in the best league in the world. Chis Wright is the only basketball player in the world who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

This story was published throughout the media worldwide, touching millions and bringing hope to people throughout the world suffering from multiple sclerosis.

It is shameful that Israeli bureaucracy and Israeli insurance companies refuse to insure Chris Wright, who has come here with his pregnant wife and two year old son.

Chris had an offer to play in Italy, and HaPoel Holon convinced him to come to Israel, in complete faith that the State of Israel is an enlightened country and that there would be no reason a basketball player suffering from multiple sclerosis would not be provided with health insurance.

The Society has put out Chris Wright’s story on Facebook, and I am attaching here the response of a man whose father suffers from multiple sclerosis:

“I find it difficult to believe what I’m reading, that we are so emotionally obtuse, especially insurance companies. It’s not possible that an active player, at the height of his career, cannot be insured by any insurance company and why?! Is he a criminal, a murderer, a rapist, a thief? No! Just because he suffers from a terrible, incurable disease called multiple sclerosis, which I have dealt with daily for 24 years since my father took ill when I was a ten-year old boy, and believe me, this is not an especially happy experience, and in fact it’s rather terrifying. If they insured my father for a trip abroad when he still walked with a cane and a slight limp, there’s no reason that not one insurance company will insure an active basketball player who until recently played for the NBA.

In short: this is certainly a badge of shame for the State of Israel in general and for the community of insurance companies in particular. It’s a disgrace to make problems for people like this, who live daily in the shadow of difficulty and uncertainty of how they will feel tomorrow. Let’s give them all the help we can, and in this case, let’s start with some insurance for this incredible sportsman!”

Ido Schatzberg”
Jeanine Vosburgh – Executive Director