Essay On Italian Healthcare System

Italy is a developed country in Europe with a population of 59.83 million people. Life expectancy is the second highest in Europe and ranks tenth in the world, having an average lifespan of 82.2 years. Italian healthcare has been universal since 1978 and has remained effective ever since. Italy is ranked as the second best healthcare system, just behind France. There are many factors that ensure the effectiveness of the Italian healthcare system, such as government funding and individual cost, private insurance companies, medical technology, and preventative measures and the spread of diseases. The Italian healthcare system is funded from income tax, federal tax, and regional tax (Reed, S. J., & Squires, D., n.d.). Healthcare is basically

In Italy, there is a slight shortage of medical technology, but they are up to date in terms of the medical technology that they do have. The Italian medical device market is worth $9.4 billion and is the fourth largest in Europe (Klein, T., 2015). The medical technology market is dependant on public spending, which can vary if there is a national deficit, like there was in 2014 (Klein, T., 2015). One of Italy 's strong points is that they have a universal system of connected electronic records, which can be used by almost every doctor or facility except for primary care doctors and facilities. The compatibility of this system makes it easier and faster for doctors to obtain records on a patient from different facilities. Italy’s medical technology is up to modern standards and is successful in detecting and treating

In terms of prevention, Italy requires a variety of immunizations along the lifespan of a child to an adult, which the Italian government strongly recommends. If children start receiving immunizations at a young age, their chance of contracting a disease is significantly decreased. Along with immunizations, education about general health and diseases is vital in preventing the preventable. A rising problem currently in Italy is childhood obesity, as one in three children is overweight in (Wilks, J., 2016). This undeclared disease is worsening and will soon begin to burden the health care system (Koehring, M., 2016). As of 2015, the obesity rate in Italy is 48%. With obesity most times comes diabetes, which costs the health care system two and a half times more to care for than an individual without diabetes. If this keeps increasing, the taxes that go to the health care system may rise, making it less affordable. In May 2016, representative of the Italian Senate set out to start a petition to declare obesity as a disease, as that is more likely to make an impact for change (Koehring, M., 2016). As awareness spreads, it is hopeful that the government will instate a program to treat the harm that obesity has caused. In order to treat and prevent a disease, awareness has to be brought to the subject by figures of authority through education and