Italy Medical Insurance News
Healthcare in Italy is provided on a universal basis to all Italian citizens and permanent residents. The Italian government regards healthcare as a fundamental right of all citizens, and ensures that high quality treatment is provided through the Servicio Sanitaris Nazionale, or SSN. All citizens and permanent residents are required to register with the SSN, which then ensures that everyone in the country is offered an equally high level of healthcare, regardless of ethnicity or social status.
Established in 1978, the SSN provides low cost healthcare to all residents of Italy. The healthcare structure in the country is provided in 3 different levels, all of which are overseen by the SSN. Local healthcare is overseen by primary physicians and hospitals which are directly responsible for treating patients and overseeing care in the immediate vicinity. Local healthcare providers are given funding on a regional level, which is the responsibility of the Provincial government. The regional government assesses the quality of treatment and the amount of patients who receive care at different facilities and apportions the appropriate budget. The entire system is overseen at the national level by the Ministry of Health, which is responsible for creating a national healthcare budget and creating healthcare policy.
While this system has proven to work since its creation, it has received a number of complaints in regards to its effectiveness. Long waiting times and a crowded bureaucratic process have meant that although the treatment quality is good, there is a severe time delay between patients being admitted to hospital and the point where they are receiving their healthcare. However, the benefits that Italian workers receive (cash benefits and paid sick leave, and non-cash benefits in the way of pharmaceutical and tertiary care) have helped many Italian nationals to overlook the twin issues of overcrowding and slow treatment times.
Foreign nationals who have newly arrived in Italy, however, are typically not eligible to receive healthcare under the SSN services, and will have to pay for all treatment. This often comes as a shock to expatriates in Italy who have been lead to believe that Italian healthcare services are low-cost or free. The reason for this is that newly arrived foreign nationals have not completed Italian residency requirements and as such are not eligible for coverage under the SSN, this means that they are forced to pay for all healthcare services, and outside of the national healthcare scheme, these services can often be extremely expensive.
There are two options in regards to foreign nationals and newly arrived expatriates obtaining healthcare treatment in Italy. The first is to use one of the government subsidized public hospitals. These facilities are less expensive to use than private medical facilities, however patients not covered by the SSN will still have to deal with lengthy waiting times, and a large amount of paperwork, and even though the cost is less, these facilities are not cheap for paying patients to use. The second option is to use one of Italy’s many high quality private hospitals or medical facilities, which will usually have a cost associated with treatment that is similar to costs in the USA and other expensive countries around the world. The benefit with using a private hospital or clinic in Italy is in the fact that waiting times are virtually eliminated, and due to the fact that these facilities are not dependant on government subsidies, the procedural factors are greatly decreased.
The only way to ensure that you have access to the quality healthcare that you deserve, in Italy or anywhere else in the world, is with a quality medical insurance plan. Italy expat health insurance that we can offer will afford you a number of coverage benefits including protection for hospitalization, out-patient and dental treatment, maternity cover, and emergency evacuation. While Italian healthcare services are typically of an extremely high standard it is important that you have the assurance that no matter what happens, you will always have the treatment that you need.
For more information about Italy expat health insurance, the international health insurance plans that we can offer in Italy, or to receive a free quote, please contact one of our expert advisers today.
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| Category: Coverage , Saudi Arabia , USA , Individual , in-patient | Read Answer Here |
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