Former employees in Clalit Health Services’ Central District say they were part of an alleged scheme to bypass Health Ministry rules and recruit ultra-Orthodox members through false paperwork and fabricated invoices for treatments never provided. The allegations come from former service coordinators in two ultra-Orthodox branches in Lod and Modiin Illit, and are now being aired in an ongoing labor court case, a complaint to the state comptroller, and interviews with Calcalist.
According to the ex-workers, the district’s ultra-Orthodox manager, Abraham Weiss, set them strict monthly recruitment targets of dozens of new members, despite ministry rules barring active recruitment by staff whose job is supposed to be helping clients with bureaucracy. They say potential members were offered expensive non-covered benefits, including private swimming lessons, children’s activities, soda machines for synagogues, strollers and childbirth-preparation courses, and that reimbursement was then claimed through Clalit’s supplemental insurance.
The workers allege that fake receipts were issued for supposed emotional-therapy sessions at an entity called Makhon Melu HaRo’im in Modiin Illit, even though, they say, it is actually a yeshiva-style nonprofit with one employee and no emotional therapists. They provided incorporation documents, which they say support that claim, plus transcripts of conversations showing members did not receive the treatments listed on the receipts. One worker said, “It was a bonus to recruit hundreds of ultra-Orthodox families to Clalit,” adding that the system used “hundreds of receipts.”
In the complaint to the state comptroller, the former employees said Weiss was directly or indirectly involved in creating a “corrupt mechanism” that included forged receipts and false representations to bring in members and transfer money improperly. They also claimed the system exploited a looser reimbursement channel for art therapy, where oversight is weaker and minimum qualifications are lower. The comptroller’s office said the complaint had been passed to the relevant audit division.
Clalit and Weiss denied the allegations, saying the lawsuit was filed by a former employee whose termination is being reviewed in labor court and that no link was shown between the receipts and Clalit or Weiss. The Health Ministry said its review is complete and that it is now working to finalize findings and, if needed, issue corrective instructions.
