In 2008, the Italian health expenditure deficit will amount to 7.2 billion euros. The estimate comes from Ceis, the Center for Economic and International Studies, of the University of Tor Vergata, in a research presented yesterday in Rome during a meeting with local autonomies promoted by Dexia Crediop, the public and project finance investment bank. The containment of healthcare expenditure has long been one of the hot topics in the confrontation between the State and the Regions, according to the Ceis research, and the growth rate of Italian public healthcare costs in the period 2002-2005 was equal to an average annual 5.7%. A worrying figure in the face of funding that is growing by only 2%. According to some simulations carried out on the basis of data from the general report on the country's economic situation and the report of the Court of Auditors and using the Sanimod model, the health expenditure deficit, in the absence of corrective measures, could reach 6.9 billion euros in 2007 and 7.2 billion in 2008. “This seems to indicate – continues the Ceis – that most of the Italian regions will be forced to review health policies by taking energetic steps to contain spending; what this could mean for the health of the citizen is still unclear today and will depend substantially on the ability of the regions to be able to gain efficiency". From Doctornews 10-13-06
