What is a medical committee?
A medical committee is composed of one doctor who specializes in a particular medical field and a secretary whose job is to ensure that your rights are protected and to record the committee’s report.
If you complained of a number of illnesses or a number of medical impairments, you may be examined by several specialists and if, following the examination, it is determined that an additional examination is required by another specialist, you will be summoned to appear before one or more additional committees.
The opinions of the specialists who examine you are submitted to the “certified physician” who determines the percentage of your medical disability from all the illnesses combined.
It is the job of the medical committee doctor to determine the illnesses or medical impairments from which you suffer and to convert them, according to the level of their severity, into percentages of medical disability, according to the examinations book in the National Insurance regulations. The book contains 10 chapters divided into the various bodily systems (see below).
How does the medical committee work?
Before you enter the room, the specialist will read the medical documents in your file. The secretary will ask you to enter the committee room, where you will be asked to present a photo ID (without a photo ID, the committee will not examine you). The doctor will be introduced to you by name and specialty, and the secretary will also be introduced. The doctor and the secretary will be wearing identification tags.
Please note that if you are acquainted with the committee doctor, either personally or as your attending physician, that doctor will not be able to participate in the committee that examines you. In such a case, you must inform the committee to that effect, and you will be summoned to a different committee.
Defining medical problems
Before the examination, you will be asked to itemize the illnesses from which you suffer. Here you must specify all your complaints. If you have trouble functioning at work or you need the help of another person to perform routine tasks - washing, dressing, mobility within your home, eating, personal hygiene - tell the doctor about them. Try not to go into too much detail. If something is unclear to the doctor, he will ask you. It is best for you to note your current complaints and not illnesses from the past. Before you meet with the committee, you can prepare a document that specifies your medical and functional complaints which you can submit to the medical committee or the secretary. The doctor will read what you have written and the document will be attached to the committee’s report.
If you have other medical documents that are not in your file, submit them to the doctor.
You may bring an escort to the committee session (the escort can be an attorney, translator, family member, friend, etc.). If it is difficult for you to specify your medical complaints, your escort may so do for you.
Consent to be examined by the committee
Your complaints will be recorded in the committee’s report and you will be asked to sign to certify that these are your complaints, and to sign a consent to be examined by the doctor.
Physical examination
In accordance with your type of illness or medical impairment, the doctor will decide if it is necessary to examine you. The examination will be conducted in relation to the complaints you noted and the type of illness you have.
You may ask the committee to allow you to bring an escort who will be present during the physical examination.
Please note:
- The examination is designed to determine your percentage of disability and is not conducted for the purpose of medical treatment. Therefore it is not similar to an examination conducted by your family doctor or another attending physician.
- The doctor has no authority to discuss medical treatment that you require, and therefore there is no point in asking the doctor questions about medical treatment.
Discussion summary and establishing your percentage of medical disability
After you leave the committee room, the doctor will read his medical findings to the secretary and will make his decision in accordance with the medical documents in the file, your complaints and the examination that he conducted.
The doctor determines the percentage of your disability according to the list of impairments in the examinations book. He will also set the date for the start of the medical disability percentage and determine whether the medical disability is temporary or permanent.
Inquiry for additional examinations
If the committee believes that you must undergo additional medical examinations or provide additional medical documents, it will not establish a percentage of medical disability for you, but instead will wait for the additional material. In such a case, a letter will be sent to you explaining what the committee requires.
If this involves additional medical documents, you will be asked to provide them, and if additional medical examinations are involved, you will be asked to undergo the examinations at the health fund in which you are a member.
Upon receipt of the requested material, the committee will determine the percentage of your medical disability, but you will not be required to appear before the committee again.
Important!
It is important to arrive at the time specified in the appointment notification. However, the time at which the committee will meet is estimated and you may be required to wait for your turn.
It is important to bring your identity card or another identifying document with a picture. Without a photo ID, you will not be able to go before the committee.
If you arrived first but were not called first, do not be upset. People are not always called to appear before the committee according to the order of their arrival. The committee may call someone else in before you because of medical or other considerations that are not always obvious.
When an examination by the committee is concluded, the doctor must summarize the committee’s findings. He must also study your file before you enter the room. Please wait until the committee secretary calls you to enter.
The examination time is not uniform for every case and depends to a large extent on the type of illness or medical impairment and the complexity of the examination that is required.
Please remember to bring all the medical documents you want to give the committee doctor. However, you do not need to bring copies of documents that have already been submitted to the NII because they are already in your file.
Make a photocopy of the documents that you wish to leave with the medical committee.
If you did not note the details of your bank account on the disability claim form, or you did not provide a canceled check as required for the purpose of verifying your account, please bring the required information to the meeting secretary so that the NII will be able to pay you what is due to you.
If you require a translator or an escort to help you to dress, please bring a suitable person.
The National Insurance Institute does everything possible to complete the procedure as promptly as possible and to pay you the pension. However, sometimes there are delays. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience.