TOTAL HEALTH EXPENDITURE PER CAPITA: $3,155

Italy’s health care system provides universal coverage and is regionally based.  All health care services are free of charge in Italy (Lo Scalzo, Donatini, Cicicchetti, & Maresso, 2009).  Italy’s National Health Service, Servizio Sanitraio Nazionale (SSN) is responsible for ensuring delivery of benefits through local health enterprises and public and private hospitals.  The SSN catalogs a list of required and non-required benefits called the livelli essenziali di assistenza (LEAs), defined as a positive and negative list.  These cataloged items outlines services and medication that are reimbursable by the SSN and services and medication that would need to be paid out of pocket.  Regions providing non-LEA services in Italy would have to finance their own source of providing the service or medication (Lo Scalzo et al., 2009).

LIFE EXPECTANCY: 82.94 years

INFANT MORTALITY RATE: 5.5 deaths/1,000 live births

OBESITY RATE IN ADULTS: 9.8%

PRACTICING PHYSICIANS: 3.8/1,000 population