Health care, Schillaci denied: the 3 billion does not | the poster

Minister Giorgetti had to admit that the health budget law will not include the 3.7 billion that the health ministry was talking about on Tuesday. He confirmed this again at a press conference yesterday morning in which he planned the move: “We will keep the percentage of GDP unchanged» he said, referring to the national health fund that commits around 130 billion euros. If GDP rises slightly above 1% as expected, the calculation will be done soon: in 2025 less than two billion more will go to health care with which the Departments will have to deal with the increase -logical in prices and wages of workers. Much less than expected, and what is needed for the state of public health.

This is not the first time that Giorgetti has stated that he intends to keep the ratio between health expenditure and GDP stable, which is already much lower than France and Germany. However, the uncertainty was fueled by the minister of health Orazio Schillaci himself, who said the day before that he was confident of an investment of “more than three billion”, suggesting that the government really intended the share relaunch with new hires. But no: compared to what has already been decided, health care spending in 2025 will increase only 0.04% of GDP, currently just over two thousand billion. That is, about 8-900 million, rather than 3.7 billion. The billion already allocated last year for 2025 must be added to this figure, so we will not even reach two. This is also clarified by the Draft Budget Document (Dpb) sent yesterday to Brussels, in which the expenditure planned by the government for the three years 2024-2026 is put in black and white. According to the Dpb, the promised three billion will only be reached in 2026, when health spending will rise to 0.15% of GDP.

In 2025, the increase in health spending will be in line with inflation and the change in GDP as Giorgetti hopes. In fact, almost nothing will change for health care. According to the minister of the economy, this is already something: “I believe that Schillaci is the most disappointing,” he said, referring to the displeasure of the other members of the government who will against linear cuts. But now many are complaining about the inconsistency of a health minister who devotes himself to advertisements and then collects the crumbs regularly without saying a word. “Very ambitious plans and promises are made – observes Marina Sereni, health manager in the PD secretariat – and then the necessary resources to achieve this are not found. “If they don’t give you the funding, you’re a technician, you have to pump your fist, you have to prove yourself and if that’s the case, put your job on the table» advises Giuseppe Conte to Schillaci. Nino Cartabellotta, president of the Gimbe Foundation, is ironic and bitter: «The Ministry of Health can now be considered without a portfolio».

Even the stop to limited numbers in medical schools that Minister Bernini announced is not what it seems. Bernini tried to satisfy other needs: on the one hand, to increase the number of doctors especially in some sectors such as emergency medicine and rehabilitation; on the other, the historical opposition of the medical societies and trade associations against the liberalism of the faculties. In the background, these cuts did not hinder the universities. And so the minister preferred to launch a downward negotiation.

The enabling bill approved yesterday by the Senate Education Commission provides that it will be possible to enroll in medicine freely but with an election postponed until the first semester after “special” exams and on the basis of criteria not yet established. All without an extra euro. And indeed the president of the medical association Filippo Anelli points out: “The elimination of the entrance exam to Medicine will not remove the registered number: it is certainly good news. ” While the opposition complains that the limited number has only been postponed for a few months, without resources to accommodate the additional students and with an expected decline in tuition. The secretariat Pd hard, in the voice of Sereni and the head of the university Alfredo D’Attorre: «Real scam for propaganda purposes».