Can people afford to pay for health care? New evidence on financial protection in Italy

Overview

This review is part of a series of country-based studies generating new evidence on affordable access to health care (‎financial protection)‎ in health systems in Europe. Financial protection is central to universal health coverage and a core dimension of health system performance. Catastrophic health spending is higher in Italy than in many other European Union countries. It is heavily concentrated in households with low incomes, households in the southern region and households headed by pensioners. It is mainly driven by outpatient medicines and outpatient care in poorer households and by dental care in richer households. There is also a significant gap in unmet need for care between the richest and poorest people. Efforts to improve financial protection should focus on addressing long waiting times; reducing co-payments; expanding coverage of dental care and medical products; reviewing the equity and efficiency of the 19% tax rebate on out-of-pocket payments; reducing regional inequalities in access to health care; and extending entitlement to adult undocumented migrants. To meet equity and efficiency goals now and in the future (‎particularly in the context of population ageing)‎ the Government should ensure that levels of public spending on health are sufficient and carefully targeted to reduce financial hardship and unmet need for households with low incomes and find ways to improve equity across regions.