Comparative Analysis: Italy vs. US Healthcare Systems

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Italian healthcare system, highlighting its structure, provisions, and operational framework. The Italian National Health Service, based on universal coverage, offers various services including outpatient and inpatient care, with specific lists detailing free and cost-based services. The system is financed through patient copayments and taxes, with regional health units managing service delivery. The report also explores the comparison between the Italian and the US healthcare systems, contrasting their approaches to public versus private financing and service access. Italy's system emphasizes universal access and publicly funded services, while the US relies more on private insurance and market-based healthcare. The report also discusses the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges within the Italian healthcare model, emphasizing the need for improvements in disease prevention and addressing performance disparities.

Running head: HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN ITALY
Healthcare system in Italy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN ITALY
Italy has an exceptional living standard and quality of life which is the outcome of
successful welfare measures taken by the government and well-established health policies.
This paper focuses on the overall structure, provisions, and scheme of the health care system
in Italy and its comparison with the health care system in the United States.
According to the National Health service of Italy, the healthcare system is based on
universal coverage, including citizens, foreign residents, immigrants, and visitors, where they
have access to all facilities of healthcare services. Different healthcare services include
outpatient and inpatient care; positive lists which are provided to all residents that come free
of cost; negative lists services consist of surgeries which are not offered to the patients free of
charge, prescription drugs, medications administered only in the hospital setting; lastly dental
care which is limited to children and emergency cases. This healthcare system was set up in
the year 1978 following the guidelines that meet the health needs of the public with an
agreement, human dignity and universal coverage in Italy
(International.commonwealthfund.org, 2020). The health services are provided at the level of
a regional and national basis. The regional health units managed by the general manager,
offer health services that are supervised by the 19 regions and two provinces. The general
nurses provide nursing care to patients who do not work on prescribing and diagnosis, but the
advance practice nurses can perform diagnosis and prescribe along with educating trainees
and communicating with other professionals regarding patient care. The preventive care
model is followed by this system which allows diagnosis of chronic diseases and primary
care free of cost (Nuti et al., 2016).
A patient’s copayment and out-of-pocket payments finance the healthcare system.
The payment for the general practitioners (GP), continuous care physicians and, outpatient
specialists are decided by the central government. The global budget and group-based
payment system generate hospital revenue and physicians of the hospital receive a salary.

2HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN ITALY
Individuals have to pay one-fifth of their expenditure as tax every year whose salary is over
EUR129. The central government collects the tax for healthcare services; the regions or states
organize and deliver services at local healthcare units and these local healthcare units are
responsible for patient care at the level of primary, social, hospital and public. Patients
without insurance or incapable of paying can access healthcare. People who are under the age
of six and over sixty-five living in families with a lower income, people suffering from
chronic diseases, HIV positive patients and pregnant women, along with diagnosis and
primary healthcare, are free from cost-sharing. There is no coverage based on income as it the
healthcare system states universal coverage but some benefits such as hospital facilities and
choice of public or private providers are received under private health insurance policies
(Mossialos et al., 2016). Public financed services account for most of the expenditure on
health.
The positive aspects of Italian healthcare system include low cost or free of cost
service in health insurance, free service for emergency cases and a small amount of copay in
non-urgent cases, free medication from pharmacy and diagnosis, financial assistance for long
term care, community home care funded by the public and by the voluntary organizations.
Negative aspects include the services that are not provided by the publicly funded policies
which include surgeries for which the hospitals do not take admissions. Services other than
essential levels of care are self-financed. Challenges in the healthcare system include disease
prevention and improvement in healthcare, lowering performance disparities, and producing
national health policy according to the industrial priorities of the country (Bindi et al.,2017).
Both Italy and the US (United States) have developed the healthcare system but their
approach to healthcare services is entirely different. Italy is based on a publicly financed
healthcare system along with a private market for extra facilities over public standards,
whereas in the American healthcare system, public coverage is limited to medicare and health

3HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN ITALY
coverage to all citizens is provided by the private sector (Atun et al.,2015). In Italy, every
citizen has the right to healthcare service, pay income tax for it and free service is provided in
case of emergency cases. The Italian government provides benefits such as the reduction in
medical expenses when the patient’s earning is low and choosing private health insurance
instead of public healthcare service. On the other hand, medical expenses in the US higher
than in Italy and it is not affordable for residents with low salaries. The medication and
treatment cost is higher than the Italian healthcare system. Some states of America provide
medical insurance through jobs but medicare at the federal level is low (Heredia et al., 2015).
In conclusion, it can be said that the Italian healthcare system provides considerable
facilities to all citizens of that country. Despite the benefits, the healthcare system requires to
overcome certain challenges and limitations which can be easily achieved with the help of
trained and experienced healthcare providers and a regulated body of the healthcare system.

4HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN ITALY
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