Rising costs and endless expectations: almost 20% of Sardinians forced to give up health care

Due to the problems characterizing health on the island , almost two out of ten Sardinians decide not to undergo visits and exams.

This is what emerges from a report elaborated on Istat data by Anap Sardegna, the Association of
Retired Artisans of Confartigianato , which underlines how in 2021 18.3% of Sardinians gave up treatment due to economic problems, the growing cost of health services and access difficulties.

Above all, the exponential increase in these numbers is worrying: if in 2017 the percentage was
by 12.5%, between 2019 and 2021 the percentage grew by 6.6%.
«All of this – explains Anap – brings the island to the top of the worrying national ranking of people who have renounced health services despite needing them , followed by Abruzzo with 13.8% and Lazio and Molise with 13.2%. against a national average of 11%».
"Many citizens keep the pain, the infection does not cure it, the health of the teeth is the first to be neglected, but the rest can wait too", comments Paola Montis , President of Anap Confartigianato Sardinia in the light of the data.

"There are many - adds Montis - the poor and the unemployed, but also the elderly and pensioners with minimal income and single-income families or workers with poor wages, who in 2021 were unable to buy the medicines they needed or were unable to go to visit".

«Treating small and medium-sized ailments has become a luxury for many - underlines Montis again - either due to too long waiting lists or because it is not possible to pay for the therapies . A clear example comes from dental care, with an increase in people who lose their teeth and do not replace them, also because dentistry in Italy is almost exclusively private".

The survey also revealed that 53.4% of Sardinian users reported waiting times to access ASL services of more than 20 minutes, against a national average of 45.2%.
"In short - continues the President of ANAP - a picture emerges which, not for the first time, of a public system that no longer pleases, to which one turns if one really cannot do without it, even at the risk of Less. In general, then, there is a strong climate of distrust, above all because, looking to the future, we hardly expect further cuts rather than investments".

Anap also suggests some guidelines to reverse the trend: «First of all , exploit everything that comes and will come from the Pnrr; then reduce co-payments for all vulnerable groups, or in temporary certified difficulty , avert future cuts to the National Health Fund and seriously govern the waiting times of all health services and not just some, as is the case now ».

(Unioneonline/lf)