The author suggests a reflection on the wide theme of supplementary health insurance schemes, which could help to clarify the real or presumed risks of their diffusion and on the definitions of the most opportune modalities and measures to contrast the risks of diversified access to care services. Considering rather simplistic an analysis which looks at the presence of these schemes as an alternative to the Nhs, the author insists on the centrality of an efficient and effective distribution of essential levels of care. At the same time, he considers opportune and advantageous to overcome hostile positions, that are often the prelude to mechanisms of progressive adaptation that lead to unsatisfactory benefits.only subscribers can see the full article

In the Italian language one term «cura» is used to express both the complex therapeutic equipment and procedures used to fight the disease (to cure), as well as the wider and more general attention and concern towards the suffering and fragility of others (to take care of). This polysemy conceals the parallel course of which the two dimensions of care have been the protagonists since the origin of scientific medicine, and which is now making a comeback given the emergence of some phenomena culminating in the incurability of the patient. Yet, to avoid the risk of a sterile reductionism or a mere juxtaposition, it is necessary to go back to the most ancient roots of such an antithesis, going back over the history of medicine from its mythological origins to the beginning of clinical medicine.only subscribers can see the full article

In December 2003 some newspapers reminded Italians that 25 years have passed since the foundation of the National Health Service, taking the opportunity to present yet another list of critical aspects and shortcomings of the system. Not everyone remembers that the first health law in unified Italy dates back to December 1888, when the National Health System was first introduced. It is with this historical prospective of analysis that it is possible to grasp the characteristics of the present development phase of the Italian health policy, with the possibility to question some institutional and organisational congruencies and inconsistencies that emerge with respect to an economic and cultural context under great transformation. only subscribers can see the full article