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“With the pandemic, the truth has come to light: the Italian health system was found to be completely inadequate and unstructured to manage all this which concerns diagnostics and prevention. In the hospital setting, many professionals divide their work into ‘pre Covid-19’ and ‘post Covid-19’ “, as if they were two geological eras“. This is what the president of Unimpresa Sport e tempo libero writes, Marco Massarenti, in a document published on the association’s website.
“The advent of this virus has seriously worsened the health of even those who have not been touched by this disease, by those who have stayed away from possible scenarios of contagion but who, at the same time, needed treatment for chronic diseases. The issue of access to treatment, of interminable waiting lists for specialist and diagnostic visits, which in most cases are urgent, cannot be ignored ”, continues Massarenti.
“One study of the society of cardiology found that there was one 50% reduction in coronary intensive care of patients with heart attack and as many with heart disease such as fibrillations and imbalances. How should this data be read? Is it possible that many, in other areas of the disease, have given up on scheduled visits or screenings or have resolved therapies and treatments on their own? The data available on access to the emergency room, even for acute cases, are a good start to reflect. The result is that there is a sort of difficult access to treatment. If some researchers identify the cause of private spending in the inefficiencies of the public system, others claim they “have no evidence in this direction”, continues the president.
“The dominant thought is that where there is a greater income, we rely more on private structures to speed up the process of specialist visitshowever, where income is low this does not happen. Preventing or diagnosing a disease in a short time has shown that it costs much less than treating a disease that becomes chronic “adds Massarenti.
According to the president of Unimpresa Sport and leisure, “private health care can become a transparent and valid ally of the public health service, if he can sustain the work. The hospital-centric model should then be contrasted by a widespread system of local medicine, which relies on monitoring, information and social and health assistance networks. Perhaps even an insurance system for workers could meet the public / private sector. The insurance that all employees in the private sector have, and often do not use, would give the possibility of accessing various alternatives. The idea would be to extend this low-cost form of insurance, partly paid by the user and partly paid by the employer, in all public and private areas of work, extending it to all pensioners. This would make it possible to lighten the waiting lists of the public health service and guarantee prevention and treatment for all people “.
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