Health care spending declines and the opposition attacks – News

Healthcare spending is declining compared to GDP. The opposition immediately launched an attack, accusing the government of wanting to privatize the entire system. The data presented in Nadef’s technical tables show a decline in the proportion of health spending over GDP with a transition over 5 years, between 2020 and 2025, from 7.4% to 6.2%. However, the numbers must take into account the sharp contraction in growth in 2020 due to the coronavirus emergency. Even in the medium term, the picture is not much different. With a horizon looking to 2036 and assuming average annual GDP growth of about 1%, pension spending is expected to rise by about 2 points compared to 2024, reaching 17.3%, while the positive sign for health care stops at 0.4 points and For education there is actually a decrease of 0.3 points. It is enough for the opposition to talk about “very serious cuts” and for the Conservatives to send warning signals. Giorgia Meloni cited health care as one of the “four big priorities of the Budget Act,” in addition to low-income support, pensions, and family and birth rate separation.

The stated goal is to “reduce waiting list times.” But in light of NADEF, it falls short of the “extra 3 or 4 billion” that Health Minister Orazio Schillaci described as “necessary” to “solve the problems” before the summer. Two of them could be allocated to the National Health Service in the budget, which, Nadiv announced, “will finance public sector contractual renewal, with particular attention to the health sector” and “will provide allocations for three years.” The period 2024-2026 will be allocated to health system employees and to encourage investments in the south.” Of the 31 provisions linked to NADEF, one relates to the reorganization and strengthening of NHS regional assistance and hospital assistance, and the other is authorization in relation to the reorganization of health professions and bodies supervised by the Ministry of Health. So, the government relies on the Pnrr program, for which “there is more than $15 billion in funding,” as the Prime Minister has stated several times, and who in March requested in the bills decree the allocation of “more than a billion dollars to reduce the impact of reimbursement and strengthen emergency rooms.” “.

For many years, Italy has been below the OECD and EU average, which is 7.1% of GDP allocated to health spending. Under current legislation, a decrease is expected from 134.7 billion in 2023 (6.6%) to 132.9 billion in 2024 (6.2%). “Without a sudden increase in the National Public Health Fund of at least 4 billion euros, our healthcare system, the flagship of our social and political system, is at risk of default,” condemned the Governor of Puglia and Vice-President of the Congress of Autonomous Regions and Provinces, Michele Emiliano. For the Democratic Party, the executive branch made “a careful political choice to divest and privatize public health care.” “The government’s response is to continue cutting funding – attacks Elie Shlein -: a very dangerous and incomprehensible position that we will not allow to pass silently.” The maneuver, according to the M5 movement, will “undermine the foundations” of the health system. Carlo Calenda, leader of the Labor Party, relaunched work with the other opposition, “which had been halted for reasons unknown to us,” “on the health plan for the budget law.” For her party’s part, Isabella de Monte is also urging the government to “request the reopening of the conditions for access to healthy ESM. There are 37 billion that the country urgently needs.” The other European Stability Mechanism, the state bailout fund, will return to the Council in November for ratification, which the majority does not appear to be in a rush to do.

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