Health insurance for teachers and school staff to start in 2026

From January 2026 supplementary health insurance debuts in schools. On the plate are 260 million euro, 65 million a year for the next four. These are 'additional state resources,' the Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, tells us. 'We are talking about an important measure that will offer about 1 million teachers and school staff forms of supplementary healthcare; an intervention that we wanted for the benefit of workers in a sector that we consider strategic for the future of our country.

During the illustration of the measure to the trade unions at the bargaining meeting on Monday, MIM clarified that the recipients of the health insurance cover will be, in the first instance, staff employed on permanent contracts and those on fixed-term contracts for one year. Minister Valditara confirmed the commitment to find additional funds to extend insurance cover to staff on temporary contracts until the end of their activities (until 30 June).

According to union reports, membership of supplementary health care will take place automatically, upon application by those concerned (the modalities will be communicated later). The services to be guaranteed range from so-called 'major interventions' (for which there is a low frequency), to other types of intervention with a higher frequency.

In the first group, just to give a few examples, should be interventions for oncological, cardiological and other serious diseases. In the second group (high-frequency services), we are thinking of including dental care (with a dental hygiene session and an examination), cancer prevention differentiated by gender, and expenses related to childbirth (natural and Caesarean); we are also studying a contribution for non-self-sufficiency and for broader diagnostics aimed at prevention in general.

The MIM 'welfare' package started, on an experimental basis, in October 2023 thanks to a synergy between public and private institutions. There are agreements in the transport and agri-food sectors: each economic operator, within its own sector, has undertaken to recognise concessions on the purchase of goods and services with discounts of 10 to 30% compared to market rates. There will also be reductions on air and rail fares of Ita Airways, Trenitalia and Italo; car parking fares of Aeroporti di Roma, to which are linked further benefits on food&beverage at the airport and on purchases in duty free shops and in some boarding areas; reductions on the purchase of food products at farmers' markets and on stays at Coldiretti's 'Campagna Amica' holiday farms.