An increasing number of patients are travelling from southern Italy to the North to seek treatment with Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto the destinations of choice for many, independent health foundation GIMBE reported on Wednesday.
    The three northern regions alone totalled 94.1% of such health-related expenses, the foundation said.
    Overall, in 2022, the cost of healthcare mobility to different regions reached a record 5.04 billion euros, the highest level ever registered, up by 18.6% on 2021, when the cost was 4.25 billion.
    The data elaborated by GIMBE showed a rising imbalance between the healthcare services provided in the North and South, with a huge number of patients and economic resources leaving southern Italy towards Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto, the most attractive regions.
    The president of the GIMBE Foundation Nino Cartabellotta said "these numbers certify that healthcare mobility is not a free choice of citizens anymore, but a need imposed by deep inequalities in the regional health services offered.
    "An increasing number of people are forced to move to receive adequate care, with unsustainable economic, psychological and social costs", he noted.
    The highest price is paid by the Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Sicilia, Lazio and Puglia regions, which represent 78.8% of costs of health-related mobility with patients from these areas seeking treatment elsewhere.
    Cartabellotta warned the phenomenon shows a "structural fracture" in the National Healthcare System, adding that it could worsen after the recent approval of the new 'differentiated autonomy' law, which enables regions to keep much of their tax take for their own spending.
    "Without adequate corrections, the reform will end up boosting and legitimizing inequalities, transforming the right to health into a privilege connected to the address of residence", he noted.
   

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