From assisted reproduction to the latest cancer treatments: here are the new free or co-pay treatments

From 3 December next, Italians will be able to start benefiting from new treatments paid for by the National Health Service and therefore free of charge or against payment of a co-payment. The package of new Lea, the Essential Levels of Care of the National Health Service, is contained in the Nomenclator that has just been approved by the State-Regions Conference, which updates the tariffs of outpatient specialist and prosthetic services, adding (and therefore charging) the new services. The new free treatment had been awaited for almost eight years, that is to say, since the first version of the new Nomenclator appeared and was then always postponed due to the problem of resources. Now 550 million have been allocated for this decree.

The new treatments range over several fronts: there are the services of medically assisted procreation currently guaranteed only in some regions thanks to their own funds or paid for by the private sector, there are the inclusion of more than a hundred pathologies in the list of rare diseases, the diagnosis and free monitoring of coeliac disease, the recognition of endometriosis as a disabling disease neonatal screening for certain pathologies such as Sma (present in only 13 regions) and the entry of molecular diagnostics into the public system, various computer and communication aids for the disabled, as well as examinations and screenings to control eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia, which alarm so many families, or modern diagnostics such as enteroscopy with an ingestible microcamera. On the tumour front, there is the entry of Hadrontherapy, a new type of innovative radiotherapy using carbon ions or protons, or cutting-edge techniques such as stereotactic radiotherapy or robotic arm radiotherapy.

The unblocking of these services, which have been at a standstill for a long time, will also give the Ministry of Health the opportunity to add new treatments paid for by the NHS that are on the waiting list very soon: in fact, two decrees (a Ministerial Decree and a Prime Ministerial Decree) with new LEAs worth 150 million are already ready and could hopefully see the light soon.The Regions' go-ahead has been conditioned by a number of changes linked to the complicated issue of tariffs, which has attracted the strong criticism of many categories representing the accredited private individuals who provide services for the NHS and who complain of average cuts in tariffs of up to 30%: in addition to the date of 30 December, the Regions have obtained that the old tariffs may remain in force for one year, extendable by a further six months, for services prescribed by 29 December. There is also a front that has yet to be fully clarified, and that is the possibility for the Regions in economic balance (including those in a recovery plan) to use their own funds to increase rates (in addition to guaranteeing other Lea).