Abstract
According to the Italian Constitution, art. 32, “the Republic protects health as a fundamental individual right and in the public interest. It guarantees free of charge healthcare services to the poor”. It is in the light of this constitutional provision, with a strong flavor in terms of equity, that one needs to begin the journey through the evolution of the Italian healthcare system, from its creation at the end of the 1970s up to now. To present the road ahead, I will first concentrate on presenting the evolution of the system in Section 1. I will then discuss the results of about 30 years of the Italian Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN) – both in terms of efficiency and equity – in Section 2. I leave to Section 3 some thoughts on the future problems to be solved, including the current policy discussion and the long-run impact of population-ageing.
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© 2013 Gilberto Turati
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Turati, G. (2013). The Italian Servizio Sanitario Nazionale: A Renewing Tale of Lost Promises. In: Costa-Font, J., Greer, S.L. (eds) Federalism and Decentralization in European Health and Social Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137291875_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137291875_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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