During Benjamin Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister in the mid-1990s, he and his wife Sara reportedly used various means to secure medical treatments under false names through Maccabi Healthcare Services, one of Israel’s major health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Documents reveal that the Netanyahus accrued substantial unpaid medical bills, sought reimbursements for services outside the scope of government coverage, and placed financial burdens on the public healthcare provider.

Netanyahu assumed office in June 1996, shortly after which a close associate, Dr. Yitzhak Lifshitz—the Knesset physician at the time—acted as an intermediary between the prime minister’s family and Maccabi. Lifshitz employed pseudonyms such as “Amichai Meirowitz” and variations thereof to conceal the family’s actual identities in medical billing and correspondence with the HMO. This practice raised ethical and administrative concerns among Maccabi’s leadership.

Records indicate that treatment costs, including emergency room visits and private medical services, were submitted for payment under these aliases. Some invoices included expenses for consultations and therapies that reportedly were not covered under the state-mandated healthcare basket, prompting Maccabi executives to question the legitimacy of the requests. Despite these concerns, payments were often made, with authorization conducted discreetly through Lifshitz, who maintained frequent communication with Maccabi’s then-CEO, Shabtai Shavit, a former Mossad chief.

The arrangements extended beyond standard care: Lifshitz regularly purchased medications for the Netanyahu family at retail pharmacies, often seeking reimbursement afterward. In one case, expenditures for medications on the eve of an overseas trip totaled less than 100 shekels, yet were rigorously pursued for compensation. Supplemental therapies and house calls by private practitioners were also covered with Maccabi funds, sometimes after insistence from Lifshitz, who even facilitated direct contacts with Sara Netanyahu.

Tensions surfaced in 1997 as Maccabi officials grew increasingly reluctant to honor bills lacking proper documentation, such as prescriptions for medications. A notable instance involved refusal to pay a pharmacy invoice exceeding 500 shekels, citing insufficient compliance with procedural requirements. This period reportedly included a confrontational phone exchange involving Sara Netanyahu and senior HMO personnel.

In correspondence, Shavit alerted Moshe Leon—then director general of the Prime Minister’s Office and currently mayor of Jerusalem—highlighting that since early 1997, Maccabi had absorbed over 18,000 shekels in costs beyond what recipients were legally entitled to. He emphasized that the organization could neither accommodate further unauthorized expenditures nor accept direct dealings between Netanyahu’s family and Maccabi’s medical directorate.

Throughout these events, medical professionals rendering services faced challenges in obtaining due payment, caught between the HMO’s limitations and the Netanyahu family’s refusal to settle certain costs. The practices documented during this period bear resemblance to allegations of exploiting public health resources reported in later years, reflecting ongoing controversies surrounding the Netanyahus’ interactions with Israel’s healthcare system.