Following a still recent custom, this issue of «Rps» reprints the contributions to the journal’s second annual Forum. It is a discussion that took place in November 2006 on the subject of various aspects of the Italian health-care system, and reprinting it was a complex matter: we did not want a mechanical reproduction of the original talk, but something rethought and rewritten by the speakers as much as possible. Not the least of the complications for this edition was our desire to publish the whole material in English too, convinced as we are that reflection on the social situation in Italy has a vital need of contributions from abroad.