Opinions on the Italian national health care after the COVID crisis 2020 by age-group

The Italian national health care underwent a huge challenge when the country was the first in Europe to be severely hit by COVID-19. A survey conducted in June 2020 attempted to find out what the opinions of Italian citizens were concerning the way the national health care faced the challenge and the structural issues it shed light on. Young people seemed to be the most optimistic about the results reached by the national system. In fact, 26 percent of people aged between 18 and 34 years thought it stood up to the challenge and only seven percent reported it did not. On the other hand, as much as 17 percent of people in the 45-54 age-group believed the national health system did not stand up to the COVID-19 challenge.

Views across age-groups were more homogenous with respect to the need for additional funding, with around half of the respondents in each group picking this option. It is interesting to note the comparatively high share of six percent of respondents in the 35-44 age-group who believed the public system did not need more funds. The oldest age-group, 55+, focused more on the need for more personnel and for a strengthening hospitals' capacity. The 18-34 age-group was also less critical than the others with regards to possible issues with the health care system: 43 percent reported the need for more personnel, while 22 percent pointed out the need for modernization, both figures being significantly below the average across age-groups.