Naples, Feb 12 (LaPresse) – In 2022, interregional healthcare mobility reached a record €5.04 billion, the highest level ever recorded and 18.6% higher than in 2021 (€4.25 billion).
Data compiled by the Gimbe Foundation also confirm a worsening imbalance between northern and southern Italy, with a massive flow of patients and financial resources moving from the South to Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Veneto, which remain the most attractive regions for healthcare.
"These numbers confirm that healthcare mobility is no longer a free choice for citizens but a necessity imposed by deep inequalities in regional healthcare services," commented Nino Cartabellotta, president of the Gimbe Foundation. "More and more people," he added, "are forced to travel to receive adequate care, with unsustainable economic, psychological, and social costs."
Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Veneto alone account for 94.1% of the positive healthcare mobility balance—the difference between funds received for treating patients from other regions and those paid for their own residents seeking treatment elsewhere.
The regions bearing the highest burden are Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Sicily, Lazio, and Puglia, which together account for 78.8% of the negative balance.
"The divide between North and South is no longer just a challenge but a structural fracture in the National Health Service," warned Cartabellotta, "which risks worsening with the recent approval of the differentiated autonomy law. Without proper adjustments, this reform will cement and legitimize inequalities, turning the right to healthcare into a privilege tied to one's place of residence."
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