Italian Immigration Policy: Access to Health Care and the Foreign Workforce

Abstract

This report is a literature review of documents pertaining to migrant health care in Italy. It investigates the literature written in the past 10 years including research and changes in legislation. The report points out that, while Italy has a strong migrant health care system, it suffers from regional differences in implementation and from recent “ad hoc” legislation. The review calls for further training of health care workers to deal with migrant specific issues and for further education of migrants about their health care options in Italy. Each country in Europe is different, the paper concedes, but Italy can look to the policies of other countries when working to improve its migrant healthcare system. The report concludes by indicating that further research is needed in Italy to determine how the health care system functions on the ground and to support the legislation needed to deal with the new challenges facing Italy’s migrant health care system.