Private healthcare spending over the
course of 2023 has risen by 10.3% with nearly 4.5 million people
having to forego treatment, independent health foundation GIMBE
reported on Tuesday.
The rising number of patients turning to private healthcare
after struggling in vain to get NHS treatment, together with
regional and territorial inequalities which force patients to
travel across Italy to find adequate treatment, long waiting
lists and crowded emergency rooms "show that the survival of the
national health service is approaching a point of no return",
according to the seventh GIMBE report on Italy's NHS presented
in Rome.
Compared to 2022, in 2023 ISTAT data showed an increase in total
health spending (+4.2million euros) which was exclusively
sustained by households as a direct expense (3.8 million) or
through health funds or insurance (553 million), given the
substantial stability of public expenditure.
"People are forced to pay for a growing number of health
treatments", said GIMBE President Nino Cartabellotta, noting the
situation is "getting constantly worse".
'Out-of-pocket' spending, or treatment paid directly by
citizens, which in the 2023-2022 period had registered an
average annual increase of 1.6% (+5.3 million euros in 10
years), went up by 10.3%% (+3.8 million) in just one year in
2023, said the report.
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