For a Christmas without barriers, equal and supportive
In recent days, the Constitutional Court has denounced the last twelve Governments of our nation (let’s hope in the current one) of immobility on the issue of Health, because they were inactive, for twenty-one long years, in updating the Essential Levels of Assistance. In fact, we are stuck with the LEAs of the Dpcm of November 29, 2001, as those revised with the Dpcm of January 12, 2017 are not yet fully in force and enjoyable.
People with disabilities, with rare diseases and with chronic diseases can no longer wait, the approval, quickly, of the Essential Levels of Assistance is urgently needed and, to do this, the State-Regions Conference must release the Tariff Decree not before eliminate serious discrimination, which the Ministry of Health said it was willing to remove, after a meeting with the Luca Coscioni Association and other associations. Not doing so would mean assuming an enormous political and moral responsibility, since it would mean continuing to violate human rights and disregarding the teaching of the Covid19 pandemic with respect to the centrality of a National Health Service capable of responding to the health needs of all people and to suspend public health.
For six years, people with disabilities, with rare diseases and with chronic diseases have been waiting for the LEA to be updated, waiting to obtain those services recognized as essential for guaranteeing the health of individuals and collective health. The Essential Levels of Assistance were defined in 2017, since then, thanks to the continuous progress of science, others have been identified, and one could add, for the benefit of over five million people, not only that, also for the benefit of prevention and the promotion of health for all. The Tariff Decree has been in the State-Regions Conference since 18 September last, Christmas is upon us, we expect, as a gift from our new Government, that everything will be defined very quickly, given that the measures that would make LEAs finally available. It would be inexplicable to slow down a measure that should be taken with speed, urgency and necessity. In fact, by unblocking the Tariff Decree, the Tariff Nomenclator for prosthetic assistance and aids and outpatient specialist assistance would also come into force.
The definition of the LEA would represent, in this historical moment, the most stringent way to reduce inequalities, given that they set the levels of health that all regions should ensure. Monitoring its application in one’s region would constitute a concrete possibility for people to assess the enforceability of their right to health, just as in any part of our nation one resides, one should be fully aware of what services one has the right free of charge since the health of the entire national community depends on them. ………. Merry Christmas
Salvatore Cimmino