The governors: 'Essential resources are missing, via the voucher'

More money is needed for healthcare and the money provided can also be spent better. This is the unified message of the Conference of Regions, which met today to address one of the hottest topics of the Budget Law. Of the additional 6.5 billion requested, 2.4 will arrive (plus one allocated in the previous budget) and the lack of additional resources translates into "cuts". In addition to the request to increase funding, there is also the proposal to release part of the resources currently linked to specific uses, and to eliminate the bonus for health services, allocating 1.6 billion directly to public health.

Also in this budget, like every year, the fund for the national health service grows. By 2027, around 146 billion will arrive, a figure that increases less than what is spent to provide services. After the figures for Lombardy, explained amid controversy by Welfare Councilor Guido Bertolaso, who spoke of "a cut of almost half a billion euros", the first estimates made by the regional offices arrive.

Veneto should have received 8.5% of the 6.5 billion additional resources requested by the Regions for healthcare, equal to 552 million euros; However, the funds allocated at a national level only amount to 2.4 billion and therefore Veneto would only be entitled to 204 million, approximately 348 less. The increase in the Health Fund for 2027 for Tuscany, however, is around 200 million but the Region estimates further increases in costs that will not be covered by the National Health Fund, for around 600 million. On the other hand, just to cover the surge in inflation, 3.48 billion had been requested by the Regions while the government allocated 138 million (4%).

In the meantime, we are thinking about possible solutions to recover "all possible funds" as indicated in the note from the Conference of Regions. Among those mentioned, which see the president of Emilia Romagna Michele De Pascale as the leader, but on which other governors could converge, the first concerns the elimination of spending constraints. "Of the resources allocated - underlines De Pascale - only 800 million are freely available, while everything else is tied to covering new expenses established by the budget itself": for example, they range from 100 million for Alzheimer's to 136 million for non-self-sufficient elderly people, going from 380 million for emergency room staff and the fund for innovative drugs. In fact, the share of resources free from constraints set by the Government that will reach the Emilia-Romagna healthcare system to also cover the higher costs of inflation is just over 62 million.

The other hypothesis, concludes De Pascale, "is to eliminate the so-called health voucher of 300 euros per person, intended for over 75s with a pension of up to 28 thousand euros per year, for the purchase of services not covered by the national health service and which are therefore resources diverted to private structures, making the entire allocation of 1.6 billion flow into public health".