MILAN (MF-DJ)–Every year about 30 billion euros are spent by Italian families to guarantee their right to health, the so-called "private health expenditure". This is what emerged during a conference entitled: "The Future of Supplementary Health Care: a comparison of the Italian model and European models", promoted by Fondo Est, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary.
According to the data presented during the appointment, in 2013, our healthcare expenditure continued to contract, stopping at 144 billion euros. Of these, approximately 30 billion are spent privately by families. We are talking about 22% of total health expenditure (which in 2013 amounted to 144 billion euros overall), a figure in line with what happens in other large European countries, but which in reality hides an anomaly: a good part of this expenditure is of the "out of pocket" type, ie not intermediated by funds or insurance companies (it is estimated that only 1.4 billion are intermediated, or approximately 4.7% of total private expenditure). Most of this figure weighs directly on the pockets of our compatriots.
Instead, it is necessary to strengthen the so-called II* Pillar, the supplementary-replacement collective health care based on mutuality and of which the Health Funds, funds and mutual aid societies are an expression. The result is that the richest regions and with the most efficient healthcare systems also boast a higher per capita expenditure on private healthcare than the others, while the poorest regions register a phenomenon of "giving up on treatment" and unfair access to the protection of one's health.
The data is contained in the study carried out for the occasion by a pool of expert university professors (Albina Candian - Univ. Statale of Milan; Sergio Paci - Univ. Bocconi of Milan; Elio Borgonovi - Univ. Bocconi of Milan; Fabio Marchetti – Univ. Luiss of Rome) and presented in Rome at the Conference entitled "The Future of Supplementary Healthcare: a comparison of the Italian model and European models", organized by Fondo Est (Integrative healthcare organization of Commerce, Tourism, Services and related sectors) on the occasion of its tenth anniversary.
fus/mur marco.fusi@mfdowjones.it (end) MF-DJ NEWS 0219:29 Dec 2015
