Psychologist bonus: applications to Inps from 15 September to 14 November

The 'window' for the new round of requests for the 'psychologist bonus' is set between 15 September and 14 November: a total of 21.5 million euro are available between 2024 and 2025, intended for citizens with a valid Isee income of no more than 50,000 euro. And as always for this measure introduced in 2022 in the post-pandemic period by the Draghi government, the great need for support is not matched by an equal capacity for 'coverage' in terms of the resources made available. Even for this round of applications, an audience of about 400 thousand is expected, against available resources that would cover just 6,300 applicants.

The benefit, designed precisely for citizens who self-declare an Isee income of no more than EUR 50,000, grants up to EUR 50 per session for a maximum of EUR 1,500 per person. The subsidy can only be requested once and can be used by private specialists regularly registered in the list of psychotherapists - Register of Psychologists - who have notified the National Council of the Order of Psychologists (Cnop) of their adherence to the initiative.
The decree allocating the 2024 and 2025 resources states that the bonus is available to 'persons suffering from depression, anxiety, stress and psychological fragility, due to the pandemic emergency and the consequent socio-economic crisis'.

The announcement of the click day came from the Ministry of Health, close on the heels of the publication in the Official Gazette of 9 August of the Health-Mef interministerial decree on the allocation of resources for the 'psychologist bonus': for 2024 there are 12 million allocated by the new decree, while for 2025 we are talking about 9.5 million.

The application to access the contribution may be submitted annually exclusively by telematic means by accessing the Inps web portal. The Institute's website provides all the information on the amount, methods and requirements for the allocation of the "bonus". The bonus is divided into three income brackets: for an Isee less than 15,000 euro, it is granted up to a maximum amount of 1,500 euro per beneficiary; for an Indicator between 15,000 and 30,000 euro, it is granted up to a maximum amount of 1,000 euro per beneficiary; from 30,000 to 50,000 euro of Isee, it is granted up to a maximum amount of 500 euro per patient. In any case, the bonus must be used within 9 months (270 days) from the date of acceptance. Once this deadline has expired, the unique code associated with each accepted application will be automatically cancelled.
In addition, starting from the start of the procedures for the allocation of the resources for 2024 and precisely "to guarantee their optimal use", the recipients of the contribution who will not have carried out at least one session within 60 days from the date of acceptance of the application, will forfeit the benefit and the resources will be reallocated to the region or autonomous province of reference for the sliding of the ranking list.