For treatments and medicines, the rules and costs to be borne by citizens vary from Region to Region. It is almost always the South that pays the most, already subject to higher regional Irpef and Irap rates due to health care budgets in the red, to then have poorer services on average than in the North. This was revealed by the monitoring of specialists and emergency rooms conducted by Agenas (Regional Services Agency) and of the state of the art on medicines by Federfarma, the Federation of Pharmacies. Access tickets to the Emergency Department range from the total exemption of Basilicata to 100 euros in Bolzano with a fixed national fee of 25 euros for 11 Regions. For medicines, heavy tickets in Puglia (6.5 euros), Calabria (6), Lazio and Sicily (4), free in Basilicata. Specialist visits and examinations cost 36 euros on average, but in Calabria, Campania and Sardinia they exceed 50 euros. Italians spend over 4.3 billion for sharing in health care costs, an underestimated figure of at least 1 billion for the evasion of the fake exempt.
(Il Sole 24 Ore Pag.26 – 24/05/2011 , Corriere della Sera Pag.53 – 05/06/2011)
[Editor's note: regional distribution of tax evasion on the right]
Lombardy: against 300,000 ticket evaders from 1 July, stop to self-certifications
Stop from 1 July 2011 to self-certifications of low incomes that have allowed 300,000 Lombard citizens to evade the health ticket for specialist medical examinations and visits. For the exemption, the doctor's certificate will be required, who will affix the exemption code provided by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) through Lombardia Informatica on the prescription. Citizens over the age of 65 will be entitled to it, with the last declaration to the tax authorities not exceeding 36,151.98 euros, as well as the unemployed and workers on layoffs. For specialist exams, the maximum amount of the ticket per prescription will be 36 euros.
(Corriere della Sera Milan Pag.1 – 03/06/2011)