The Italian National Health Service: Universalism, Marketization and the Fading of Territorialization

Abstract

At the time of its inception, in 1978, prevention and primary care were set as fundamental pillars of the Italian National Health Service (NHS), emphasizing the collective and social dimension of health. These principles were progressively neglected over the following four decades. Marketization, managed competition and managerialization privileged the individualized, highly specialized healthcare services mainly provided in hospitals, to the detriment of local outpatient and primary care services. After 2008–09, austerity policies exacerbated this situation determining under-financing as well as structural and staff shortages, while increasing tensions arose between the central government and Regions in the decentralized NHS. In 2020–21, the pandemic highlighted these critical issues. The need to develop a universal and strong outpatient, primary and community care system became evident in order to ensure the appropriateness and quality of foundational health services. This requires the State to play a more prominent role in the NHS governance.