Healthcare in Italia

One of the first matters I wanted to address is something that many are interested in and have questions about - Healthcare. In fact, we have so many issues with it back home, makes you wonder how other countries are. In Italy, and in some other countries like Australia, health insurance is covered by the government. I was able to get insurance once I got my Permesso di Soggiorno (Permit to Stay) and became a resident here. The great thing is that you don’t have to pay crazy monthly bills or have it deducted from your paycheck. Keep in mind that this is for your primary physician. For the dentist, optometrist or any other specialist, you will have to pay out of your pocket. I cannot stress how important it is to know people, or to know the physician personally if you are in a small town… in that case, they will surely “take care” of you.

I have to admit, at the beginning, I was really scared about the healthcare here and wasn’t sure if I would be able to trust them and always had this bias that we have such great hospitals and doctors back home. However, there are also some really bad hospitals and bad doctors back home as well. It is the same case here and many countries. I hate that I automatically made an assumption with that. If you are with a doctor that cares and is really good then you are in great hands and will be taken care of and they will help refer you to any needs that you may have. Like in the States. However, if you don’t have a good doctor or don’t even have a doctor then you may find the search for one quite frustrating. Again, it will really benefit you to know someone or have someone refer you.

As for the hospitals… there are good ones and bad ones. I visited one hospital that kind of reminded me of General Hospital in Los Angeles… need I say more? Then I also went to a private clinic that looked extremely clean and new… as you can already guess, that quickly put me at some ease. It’s always a give and take.

Back to primary physician care… the one thing that I am bothered by is the fact that the doctors normally have very limited visiting hours. For example, Mondays 9:00am to 12:00pm and 3:00pm to 5:00pm and then Thursdays from 3:00pm to 5:00pm….and that’s it… Ummm I believe that adds up to 7 hours a week that they are available???? On that note, people end up starting to line up at 1:00pm when the doctor comes in at 3:00pm because there are just sooo many people that end up coming that you end up waiting for two hours anyways. It is solely walk in, thus, no appointments can be made ahead of time. And then, they don’t normally have a nurse. So you get there and there is no front desk and no sign-in sheet. So, for any new person that arrives, they always have to yell out, “Chi è l’ultimo?” (Who is the last one?) because you have to make sure you know who you are after. I don’t know, maybe I am being a little difficult, or just use to the process we have back in the States, but don’t you think our process makes a little more sense? Sure, I get that they might not want to have a full-time nurse, but a simple sign-in sheet would be effective. On a brighter note, most doctors do house calls which is great if you are really ill, but of course, within the hours that they are “available” to come.

In regards to the pharmacy, I have yet to find a 24 hour pharmacy. I guess I should assume they would be scarce or nonexistent since they close for three to four hours every afternoon (1:00pm to 4:00pm) so surely they aren’t going to consider being open for 24 hours right? But then a lot of them are closed on Sundays as well. Ok, here I go again being completely use to what we have in the States but what if you have an emergency or your baby isn’t well at night and you need to go get medicine? Notwithstanding, you basically have to be prepared, suck it up and brave the storm, or go to the hospital. Oh, and forget about having your physician call in your prescriptions, you have to go to the doctor’s office during office hours, wait in the long line of patients, and go in to ask the doctor to write it up. =/

Hopefully I don’t come off as just complaining…. This is me adjusting and educating you. =) What can I say? The luxuries we have as Americans…. Oh and I can’t wait to tell you how they use the saying, “Vuoi fare Americano?” (You want to be American or You want to do as the Americans do) all the time…. That actually cracks me up and I am slowly beginning to see how true it is… =)

Ciao ciao!