Italians residing abroad and registered with the AIRE, through the health card service, will maintain medical assistance and health exemptions when present in Italy. The text of the new bill aimed at expanding free hospital care – both in terms of service provided and duration – for Italians residing abroad is ready for parliament. The draft was formulated by the working group coordinated by Professor Antonio Giordano, President and founder of the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO) Temple University USA and Professor of Anatomy and Pathological Histology at the University of Siena, on behalf of the Honourable Andrea Di Giuseppe member of the
Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.
The working group team, which also included Prof. Giovanni Ciccarelli, Dr. Iris Maria Forte, Professor Francesca Gimigliano, Dr. Massimo Petrone and Professor Antonio Russo, was formed with the aim of developing policies and identifying effective tools for this initiative which could prove a real healthcare revolution.
“Important turning point for Italians abroad: from today they will no longer have to give up medical care once they return to Italy from abroad. From today, every time an Italian returns home they will have healthcare at a minimum monthly cost” comments Prof Giordano.
The current legislation, as in the decree of the Minister of Health of 1 February 1996, provides that, in the event of occasional return to Italy, Italian citizens not in possession of a European Health Insurance Card, with the status of emigrant or having a pension under Italian social security institutions, not having public or private insurance coverage, are entitled to emergency hospital services free of charge up to a maximum of ninety days. However, ” lack of health card, which certifies the citizen’s registration in the national health registry, makes operational management cumbersome for all areas of national health, as well as for compatriots who often feel more foreign than those who do are Italian”.
A peculiar element of the proposed law is to guarantee, through the health card service, the maintenance of the general practitioner and paediatrician, with consequent updates of the electronic health record, the exemption plan for pathologies, the therapeutic plan and access to essential medicines.