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Italian welfare state
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Italian welfare state
The Italian welfare state is based partly upon the corporatist-conservative model (as described by Gøsta Esping-Andersen, one of the world's foremost sociologists working on the analysis of welfare states) and partly upon the universal welfare model.
In 1978, a health reform introduced the National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale – SSN). The SSN is a public and universalistic system aimed at guaranteed healthcare for all citizens. It was planned to be an entitlement and was not means-tested. Later, the financial situation urged to introduce user charges in order to avoid wastages, even if this might lead to inequalities, and means-testing for common tests and medicine. In 1992 a major reform allowed citizens to pay higher fees in order to receive private services within the SSN; by this way, public spending decreased. Today the SSN is financed both by direct taxes and by the revenues of the local health agencies, made by partial or total payments on services. The SSN is mainly dealt by regions, which control the local health agencies and set the level of user charges, however under the control of the Health Ministry. Differences between regions in wealth levels, political coalitions in office and competence of the political elite brought to very different outcomes, as the "Red Belt" of central-Italian communist-led regions is thought to have the best, more comprehensive, cheap and universal healthcare system; the Northern Christian Democracy-led regions are thought to have quite good but expensive healthcare system, while the Southern regions are often charged with malasanità – bad healthcare[citation needed].
A specialistic visit costs around €30 and the price of a single envelope of drugs is €2, the same visit and the same drugs when done privately can rise many times. People in financial distress pay nothing for the aforementioned things.
Education is free and compulsory for children between 6 and 16 years of age. It includes five years of universal primary school, three years of secondary school and finally five years of high school leading to the Maturità exam and the award of a "diploma", which, in turn gives access to professions such as draughtsman-surveyor or teacher, and university courses. Primary school includes free books but not uniform or transport, and from the age of 12 the cost of books and transport, and all other fees for secondary school, are the responsibility of the family. Sometimes some families on low incomes who are eligible for means tested benefits can apply for a voucher to contribute to payment for the stipulated textbooks which are very numerous and expensive in Italy. Universities are both public and private; public universities are mainly financed by the state and have low, income-related fees and means-tested support for low-income students, while private universities have much higher fees. Students in primary and secondary education still have to pay minimal enrolment fees, usually around €20 per year, and the cost of books is not always covered by state vouchers.
The problem of cheap and healthy housing for low-income people led to the passing of the 1903 Luzzati Act, which stipulated the setting up of public, non-profit, local housing authorities to build and rent apartments to meet the needs of an increasing urban population. Those agencies were reformed in 1938 but still deal with public housing: the waiting list for public flats, and the fee, is means-tested and open to immigrants. In 1962, Act n.167 encouraged the purchase, by local authorities, of land to be used for public housing.
In 1978 the Fair Rent Act (Equo Canone) introduced a maximum fee for residential properties and four-year leases. Maximum rents were increased much more slowly than the rate of inflation and did not take account of changes in the urban population. This led landlords to prefer selling to renting, or to opt for black-market negotiations of fees, which in turn led to a restriction in the rental market. In 1998, only 20% of the Italian housing market was rental; middle- and high-income families preferred to buy their home, while low-income families that could not afford to buy suffered from high rents. The 1998 Rent Act tried to revitalise the rental sector by liberalising maximum rents and allowing rental conditions to be set by landlords’ and tenants’ organisations.
The problem of unemployment has been moderated in Italy by governmental benefits, in the form of cash transfers based on contributions (indennità di disoccupazione). The requirement for claimants to obtain up to 40 percent of the individual's previous wages (for a maximum of around €1000 in 2007) for up to seven months is to have been previously employed and enrolled for unemployment insurance, making contributions for at least 52 weeks in two years. The extremely high unemployment rates that Italy faced in the 1980s brought unemployment benefits to be the first item of increase in social security spending, and contributed to the rise of the Italian public debt.
Since 1947, and with reforms in 1975, cash benefits are provided as shock absorbers to those workers who are suspended or who work only for reduced time due to temporary difficulties of their factories. This institute, the Redundancy Fund (Cassa integrazione guadagni), aims to help factories in financial difficulty, by underwriting the costs of the inactive workforce, also supporting those workers that might lose part of their income. The workers receive 80 percent of their previous wages, under a maximum level established by the law, and their contributions for pensions are considered as paid, even if they are not (contributi figurativi).
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Italian welfare state
The Italian welfare state is based partly upon the corporatist-conservative model (as described by Gøsta Esping-Andersen, one of the world's foremost sociologists working on the analysis of welfare states) and partly upon the universal welfare model.
In 1978, a health reform introduced the National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale – SSN). The SSN is a public and universalistic system aimed at guaranteed healthcare for all citizens. It was planned to be an entitlement and was not means-tested. Later, the financial situation urged to introduce user charges in order to avoid wastages, even if this might lead to inequalities, and means-testing for common tests and medicine. In 1992 a major reform allowed citizens to pay higher fees in order to receive private services within the SSN; by this way, public spending decreased. Today the SSN is financed both by direct taxes and by the revenues of the local health agencies, made by partial or total payments on services. The SSN is mainly dealt by regions, which control the local health agencies and set the level of user charges, however under the control of the Health Ministry. Differences between regions in wealth levels, political coalitions in office and competence of the political elite brought to very different outcomes, as the "Red Belt" of central-Italian communist-led regions is thought to have the best, more comprehensive, cheap and universal healthcare system; the Northern Christian Democracy-led regions are thought to have quite good but expensive healthcare system, while the Southern regions are often charged with malasanità – bad healthcare[citation needed].
A specialistic visit costs around €30 and the price of a single envelope of drugs is €2, the same visit and the same drugs when done privately can rise many times. People in financial distress pay nothing for the aforementioned things.
Education is free and compulsory for children between 6 and 16 years of age. It includes five years of universal primary school, three years of secondary school and finally five years of high school leading to the Maturità exam and the award of a "diploma", which, in turn gives access to professions such as draughtsman-surveyor or teacher, and university courses. Primary school includes free books but not uniform or transport, and from the age of 12 the cost of books and transport, and all other fees for secondary school, are the responsibility of the family. Sometimes some families on low incomes who are eligible for means tested benefits can apply for a voucher to contribute to payment for the stipulated textbooks which are very numerous and expensive in Italy. Universities are both public and private; public universities are mainly financed by the state and have low, income-related fees and means-tested support for low-income students, while private universities have much higher fees. Students in primary and secondary education still have to pay minimal enrolment fees, usually around €20 per year, and the cost of books is not always covered by state vouchers.
The problem of cheap and healthy housing for low-income people led to the passing of the 1903 Luzzati Act, which stipulated the setting up of public, non-profit, local housing authorities to build and rent apartments to meet the needs of an increasing urban population. Those agencies were reformed in 1938 but still deal with public housing: the waiting list for public flats, and the fee, is means-tested and open to immigrants. In 1962, Act n.167 encouraged the purchase, by local authorities, of land to be used for public housing.
In 1978 the Fair Rent Act (Equo Canone) introduced a maximum fee for residential properties and four-year leases. Maximum rents were increased much more slowly than the rate of inflation and did not take account of changes in the urban population. This led landlords to prefer selling to renting, or to opt for black-market negotiations of fees, which in turn led to a restriction in the rental market. In 1998, only 20% of the Italian housing market was rental; middle- and high-income families preferred to buy their home, while low-income families that could not afford to buy suffered from high rents. The 1998 Rent Act tried to revitalise the rental sector by liberalising maximum rents and allowing rental conditions to be set by landlords’ and tenants’ organisations.
The problem of unemployment has been moderated in Italy by governmental benefits, in the form of cash transfers based on contributions (indennità di disoccupazione). The requirement for claimants to obtain up to 40 percent of the individual's previous wages (for a maximum of around €1000 in 2007) for up to seven months is to have been previously employed and enrolled for unemployment insurance, making contributions for at least 52 weeks in two years. The extremely high unemployment rates that Italy faced in the 1980s brought unemployment benefits to be the first item of increase in social security spending, and contributed to the rise of the Italian public debt.
Since 1947, and with reforms in 1975, cash benefits are provided as shock absorbers to those workers who are suspended or who work only for reduced time due to temporary difficulties of their factories. This institute, the Redundancy Fund (Cassa integrazione guadagni), aims to help factories in financial difficulty, by underwriting the costs of the inactive workforce, also supporting those workers that might lose part of their income. The workers receive 80 percent of their previous wages, under a maximum level established by the law, and their contributions for pensions are considered as paid, even if they are not (contributi figurativi).
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