EUR24bn Austerity Package Contains Healthcare Spending Cuts

In late May 2010, faced with two years of significant budget adjustments, the Italian government stated that four regions would no longer receive development funds because they had run up excessive deficits in their healthcare budgets. With a public debt of 113% of GDP at the end of 2009, Italy has been grouped with the likes of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain as a country with spiralling sovereign debt pressures. Italy's 20 regions manage their own healthcare systems, using funds transferred from the central government. Lazio, the region home to Rome, Campania, Naples, Molise and Calabria will be ineligible for

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