The medical committee
The job of the medical committee is to assess the degree of the injured person’s disability according to the medical material and examinations, and to translate it into a percentage.
The medical committee members are medical specialists who are appointed by the Minister of Social Affairs. The committee can contain one or more doctors, as required. The committee’s decision is based on medical examinations and special tests to determine degree of disability.
Tests to determine degree of disability
This is a list of injuries and diseases. Disability percentages have been determined for each injury or disease, with details of limitations that they cause. In calculating the percentage of disability for the injured person, the committee does not take into account an impairment that existed before the injury, or an impairment that occurred after it and was not a direct result of the injury.
Guidelines for the examinee when appearing before the medical committee
Your file will be before the medical committee and it will contain documents relating to the injury or disease, which were received from the competent medical entities. Please note that the committee is aware only of the basic information, so it is important that you supplement and complete these facts with up-to-date medical material by bringing with you letters of discharge, certifications, etc.
The medical committee is authorized only to establish the degree of your disability that is connected with the hostilities-related injury or illness that has been recognized for you.
Calculating the degree of disability
The degree of disability is calculated as follows:
When there is one injury, the degree of disability will be the degree of disability of that injury.
For example: If a 40% degree of disability was established for one injury, that person’s degree of disability will be 40%.
When there are several injuries, each one of which has a separate degree of disability, the injuries are weighted. For example: If there are two injuries, the first at 60% and the second at 30%, the first injury will be 60% and the second will be 12% - which is 30% out of the remaining 40%. Thus, the overall degree of disability will be 72%.
According to this mode of calculation, the more injuries there are, the less the net degree of disability for each injury beyond the initial basic injury.
When two or more injuries relate to pairs of limbs (two arms or two legs), the medical committee may add together the degrees of disability of these limbs. For example: a 40% disability in one arm and a 30% disability in the other will be equal to an overall 70% degree of disability. However, the final degree of disability will not exceed 100%. For example, a 40% disability in one leg and a 70% disability in the other equals an overall 100% degree of disability (and not 110%).
Re-examination
If your degree of disability is temporary, or a change has occurred in the degree of your disability, you will be asked to appear again before the medical committee. The National Insurance Institute may request that you be re-examined once a year, but the date of the examination can be moved up if there is reason to believe that a change has occurred in the degree of your disability (but no earlier than six months after the committee's decision).
If you cannot appear on the specified date, you must notify the NII to that effect in advance and arrange for another date. If you are summoned for a re-examination by the medical committee and you do not report for the examination as scheduled, and at least six months have elapsed since the degree of your disability was last established, the National Insurance Institute may reduce your benefits.
Request for re-evaluation
If you believe that the state of your health has worsened due to a hostilities-related injury, and six months have elapsed from the date of the committee's decision on your disability, you may request a re-evaluation of your condition. A doctor's certification attesting to the change must be attached to the request.