“Insufficient resources for healthcare, Regions at crossroads”: Gimbe slams the Budget
Doctors and nurses ready to fold their arms on November 20. "A mockery 3 euros more for minimum pensions, to then force you to spend hundreds of euros on private visits"
ROME – Despite the actual increases planned for Healthcare and “despite the announcements”, the government’s Budget “does not envisage any progressive relaunch of the National Health Fund, leaving the National Health Service with insufficient resources to address the growing needs of citizens and professionals”. With these words, Nino Cartabellotta, president of the Gimbe Foundation, effectively rejects the Bill on the Budget 2025 with respect to the allocations planned for healthcare. The numbers predict increases over the next three years, but for Gimbe’s analysis they are not enough. According to the document that will have to be approved by Parliament, the National Health Fund (FSN) will reach 136,533 million euros in 2025, 140,595 million in 2026 and 141,131 million in 2027.
On this and in the face of what it calls a “whirlwind of numbers, often presented and interpreted subjectively or even exploited”, the Gimbe Foundation has in fact conducted “an independent analysis on the funding allocated by the Budget to healthcare, in order to provide objective, transparent and useful information to inform the political debate and public debate in view of the parliamentary discussion”. In light of the resources budgeted for the next three years, Cartabellotta turns up his nose: “The resources, mainly intended for contract renewals for staff, will not allow the implementation of the extraordinary plan for hiring doctors and nurses strongly desired by Minister Schillaci, nor will it eliminate the spending cap for healthcare personnel, contrary to what is provided for in the Waiting Lists Decree”.
THE NATIONAL HEALTH FUND
In detail, the actual increases envisaged by the Budget are: 4,062 million euros in 2026 (+3%), 536 million in 2027 (+0.4%), 883 million in 2028 (+0.6%), 1,062 million in 2029 (+0.7%) and 1,173 million from 2030 (+0.8%). ‘Consequently – the president comments – the Budget, despite the announcements, does not envisage any progressive relaunch of the Fsn, leaving the National Health Service (Ssn) with insufficient resources to address the growing needs of citizens and professionals’. The trend of the Fsn in fact maintains the consolidated trend until 2026, and then returns to pre-pandemic levels, explains Gimbe.
“BETRAY THE EXPECTATIONS OF CITIZENS AND PROFESSIONALS”
In the conclusions, the overall rejection of the maneuver: “Once again – concludes Cartabellotta – the Budget Law betrays the legitimate expectations of health professionals and citizens, today struggling with a National Health System struggling to respond to the health needs of the population. Above all due to the progressive shortage of personnel, especially nursing staff, who are experiencing a period of demotivation and disaffection for healthcare unprecedented public. From the analysis of the resources allocated to healthcare, four extremely critical points emerge. First of all, the ‘cosmetics’ on the Fsn for 2025, which largely betrays the proclamations of the Executive: the real increase is only 1.3 billion, compared to the 3.5 billion announced, making it impossible to satisfy the requests of healthcare professionals, who in fact have already announced a strike for November 20. Secondly, the only real increase in resources is expected only in 2026, when the State will be able to use the liquidity deriving from the suspension of the banks’ tax credit. Thirdly, the resources are dispersed in too many streams, without a clear vision of relaunching the NHS, with an excessive number of measures compared to the resources allocated, drawing on the Fsn: a (non) strategy that will end up putting the Regions at a crossroads, forced to choose which side to ‘pull’ a blanket that is too short. Finally, there is no sign of any progressive relaunch of public funding which, after the ‘flare-up’ of 2026, returns to ordinary maintenance figures of the pre-pandemic era”.
Finally, “despite public health being the country’s real emergency today, political choices remain inexorably in line with those of the last 15 years – Gimbe sums up – all governments have defunded the NHS and none has been able to develop a plan to relaunch public funding. A betrayal of Article 32 of the Constitution and of universalism, equality and fairness, fundamental principles of our irreplaceable NHS”.
ON NOVEMBER 20, DOCTORS AND NURSES ON STRIKE
“Every year, punctually, the budget law turns out to be a cold shower for public health, and therefore for citizens and for healthcare personnel. Deceiving patients and health professionals with amazing promises and then finding yourself with a plate of lentils in your hands is a political sport that we are no longer willing to accept. And in the same way it is a mockery to increase minimum pensions by 3 euros and then force the poorest segments of the population to spend hundreds of euros on private medical visits, tests, CT scans and MRIs that are inaccessible in public health care” declares Guido Quici, President of Cimo-Fesmed, a trade union federation that represents over 14,000 doctors. So “on November 20, then, doctors and nurses will strike and demonstrate in Rome because they are fed up with proclamations that, punctually, have not been followed – explains Quici – Doing everything to push doctors to abandon public health represents an unacceptable about-face, or the fruit of a very specific plan aimed at enriching – on the backs of the sick – the private sector, insurance companies, cooperatives and multinational health companies”.
So, the list of “at least ten reasons” that pushed the union to proclaim the strike. Including: “3.7 billion had been announced for public healthcare, next year 1.3 will arrive, barely enough to finance the renewals of healthcare personnel contracts, thus leaving crumbs for the improvement of healthcare offered to citizens”. And again: “30 thousand hires in the National Health Service had been promised, but the Budget Law does not provide for any. And without hiring it will be impossible to reduce the workload of employees and therefore improve working conditions in hospitals, which are unacceptable today”. Finally, the list also includes the point relating to the critical issues for the Regions: “In past years, the State had allocated many resources for healthcare personnel, which however are still being withheld by the Regions. It is not surprising, then, the initiatives of some of them that anticipate the effects of differentiated autonomy on the labor market, granting extra-contractual production bonuses”. And Quici concludes: “With this scenario, we can only share the choice of those who decide to abandon public health“.