Having just watched (and thoroughly enjoyed) Michael Moore's 'Sicko'' I am left - well, sickened - by the cold hard truth that healthcare in the United States is a privilege and not a birthright. The movie highlights (amongst other things) how universal healthcare works in places like Canada, Great Britain and France (according to the movie, very well.)

I was wondering if anyone had any tales regarding how universal healthcare in Italy works (and for those who have immigrated to the United States, how do the two compare)

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Stephanie
I moved your post into this forum so we keep all the health care posts together.

My answer: Italian are always complaining about the health care system ( and the numerous scandals that are associated with it ) - I personally had excellent experiences.

In some aspects I think it works better than the US system. In any case I still cannot believe that a country as rich as the US does not have health care. I think Canada does have health cares as does all of Europe.

It would be interesting see wich country do and waich don't.
I hope more people post their experience here.

From my experience of the system, it seems to compare favourably with the NHS in the UK. When my father-in-law was very ill the ambulance came quickly, the paramedics were both caring and professional, and the treatment good. The same when one of our children needed to see the doctor with tonsilitis - good service, no charge.

Having read your post, I did have a search on the 'net. My wife has had cancer, and the doctor here advised her to register the UK medical records with the local hospital in Italy, as she then wouldn't have to pay for certain treatments - we've done this, but until now I hadn't really thought about what she would get free, that anyone without a history of cancer (i.e. me) would have to pay. The entry on Wikipedia states :-

"In 1978, a health reform introduced the National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale - SSN), a term inspired by the British National Health Service. The SSN is a public and universalistic system aimed at guaranteed healthcare for all citizens. It was planned to be an entitlement and was not means-tested. Later, the financial situation urged to introduce user charges in order to avoid wastages, even if this might bring to inequalities, and means-testing for common tests and medicine."

I haven't been able to find so far what the user charges are, or for what, but it seems they are set regionally, so may vary. I would be interested to see if anyone has had to pay, for what, and how much.

Since moving to Italy I have experienced emergency medical treatment twice, once for myself and once for my daughter. Without going into details, on both occasions we received excellent treatment, and my stay in hospital was comfortable and similar to the sort of treatment I would get in the UK. My only negative comment is that I was discharged after 3 days without actually being diagnosed with anything, which has left a bit of a question mark in my mind as to what happened to me.

In the UK I had private medical insurance because I knew that if I needed to be treated for anything other than an emergency I would have to wait to see a specialist. Although I would have preferred not to pay for additional insurance I felt that it was necessary and I was fortunate to be able to afford it.

The problem now is getting treatment from your family doctor in Italy, but that's another story... isn't it Markymark?

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