Cancellation of the health superticket, an extraordinary competition for the hiring of 24 precarious teachers and a cut in the tax wedge so that those who earn less than 26 gross euros a year end up with an extra 500 gross euros. These are the main innovations in terms of health, school and work that the Government is preparing to include in the draft of the Budget Law to be sent to the European Commission by 15 October.
HEALTHCARE: ABOLITION OF SUPERTICKETS AND REVIEW OF THE SYSTEM
The superticket varies according to the Regions. The original rule – written by the Prodi government in 2007 but which only came into force in 2011 – provided for a fixed fee of 10 euros per prescription in addition to the ticket, but gave the Regions the freedom to collect that money as they wished. To sterilize the revenue and abolish the superticket, 400 million euros are needed.
But it's not over. The Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, announced that the Executive intends to "link a bill for the reorganization" of the ticket system to the Budget Law, which provides for visits and examinations to cost from 36 euros upwards. The exemption is granted to over-65s, children under six with a family income of less than 36 euros and those with a chronic or serious illness. The problem is that there are many false exemptions: it is estimated that 10% of Italians who do not pay the ticket should do so.
The draft law announced by Speranza plans to modulate participation in health care costs "in relation to the income produced by the fiscal household, compared to the composition of the household itself on the basis of an equivalence scale (RE equivalent income)".
In addition, "a maximum annual amount of participation in healthcare expenditure is established, in relation to the equivalent income, once this is exceeded, the obligation to participate ceases".
The provision, as explained in the introductory report, starts from the assumption that "the current configuration of the co-participation system, providing for a fixed amount for all citizens, creates evident disparities in access to the national health service".
SCHOOL: RECRUITMENT OF 24 THOUSAND TEMPORARY TEACHERS
On the school side, the recent agreement between the ministry and the unions provides for a new extraordinary competition for high school. It will not be accessible to everyone, but only to those who have worked at least three years out of the last eight in public school. The goal is to hire 24 of the school's 70 precarious workers by September 2020. Non-winners who get at least 7/10 in writing will enter the second band rankings from June 2020.
CUTTING THE TAX WEDGE
As regards the tax wedge, the cut is entrusted to a bill linked to the manoeuvre. The aim is to bring about 500 euros gross more each year into the payroll of those who earn less than 26 euros gross a year. The audience is the same as the 80 euro bonus introduced in 2014 by the Renzi government.
A cut of the wedge of these proportions costs 5,85 billion a year: too many for the 2020 budget. Consequently, next year the measure will start from July, in order to halve the costs for the State. The Government will talk to the unions about the possibility of letting the worker choose whether to receive the money in a single annual payment or in "installments" of 40 euros per month.
COVERAGE: 14 BILLION AGREEMENT WITH THE EU ON FLEXIBILITY
Finally, the roofing chapter. According to the latest rumors, even before the presentation of the Update note to the Economics and Finance document, the Italian government would have reached an informal agreement with Brussels on flexibility for 2020. There is still no official announcement, but the green light to the 14 billion requested by our country - which raised the deficit forecast for next year from 1,5, 2,2 to XNUMX% – it should be a formality.
