New report shows private healthcare expenditure has increased in Italy, accounting for a quarter of overall expenditure in 2016
The latest report on healthcare financing published by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reveals that the impact of private expenditures in the country has drastically increased in the 4-year period between 2012 and 2016.
In 2016, public resources devoted and spent for healthcare provision equalled 112,125 million EUR, counting for 75% of total health expenditures. The remaining 37,318 million came from private expenditures, mostly (90.9%) from out-of-pocket payments supported by patients and families themselves. Total private expenditures equalled 2.2% of the total Italian GDP in 2016.
Some reviewers and organizations attribute the cuts to public healthcare financing of recent years (estimated at 10.5 billion Euro), the aging population and the lack of reorganization of community care for the rapid increase of private expenditures. In addition, the uneven access to services in the territory and waiting lists might have increased mistrust towards the public sector.
It is important to stress that the majority of out-of-pocket payments (38.9% of total households private expenditures) were reported for medicines and other products distributed by pharmacies, and they include expenses for suppliers and for the price difference paid for branded medicines for which generic products are already available.