Senior Citizens’ Card 2027: €300 for healthcare costs, but risks of exclusion for those most in need
The UPB’s findings: the reference solely to the pension fails to take into account any other income, assets or the household’s overall financial situation. Concerns have also been raised regarding differences in health status, the need for care and difficulties in accessing National Health Service benefits
Key points
It is said that sometimes the devil is in the details. Yet it is precisely these details that we must pay very, very close attention to. The budget provides, only from 2027, for a €300 voucher towards healthcare costs for elderly people aged 75 and over who receive a state pension or a civil disability allowance, the blind and the deaf and dumb, provided their total annual income does not exceed 28,000 euros. However, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office (UPB) during the hearing on the budget, there is a risk that this support may not always reach those who need it most.
How it works
Let us start with a basic assumption. €1.645 billion has been earmarked for this measure for 2027 alone. The fund to finance the scheme has been set up within the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies for subsequent transfer to INPS. As the UPB explains, the amount of the fund was determined, according to the technical report, on the basis of an estimate of 5,456,407 pensioners aged 75 or over with a total gross pension income (excluding INAIL annuities and carer’s allowances) of up to 28,000 euros. All implementation details (the types of purchases eligible, the conditions for the accreditation of retail outlets, healthcare facilities and professional healthcare services where the Card may be used, and the procedures to ensure compliance with the spending limit) will be set out in a decree issued by the Minister of Labour in consultation with the Minister of the Economy.
Services included
Therefore, as the UPB points out, it is not yet possible to identify precisely which goods and services will be available for purchase using the card. However, as explained in the brief submitted to Parliament, ‘these could include: treatments excluded from the LEA, such as dental services; treatments included in the LEA (Essential Levels of Care, ed. ), but purchased on a fee-paying basis from private facilities or on an intramural basis; co-payments due to the NHS (National Health Service, ed.). With regard to this last possibility, it should nevertheless be noted that a significant proportion of potential beneficiaries may already be eligible for exemptions on the grounds of medical condition, disability or income’.
The risk of failing to help those most in need
There is, however, one aspect on which the UPB highlights a critical issue. Although the criteria relating to personal details and pension income ‘allow for a relatively straightforward selection of beneficiaries’, they nevertheless ‘do not ensure that the support is directed towards those facing the greatest financial hardship or with the greatest healthcare needs’. But why?
The reference to pension income alone
According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, the reference to pension income alone disregards ‘the possible existence of other sources of income, assets and the overall financial situation of the household’. Consequently, based on this reasoning, individuals in similar financial circumstances may be treated differently, depending on the composition of their income.
