BOLOGNA (ITALPRESS) – A savings of almost 20 million euros of pharmaceutical spending, increasing recipes with exemption and reduction those not exempt. In decrease the consumption of some of the categories of drugs more at risk of inappropriateness and waste such as antibiotics, acid pump inhibitors, omega3 and vitamin D, of which it was not entirely justified.
It is the budget in December 2025 of the first 8 months of pharmaceutical tickets in Emilia-Romagna, introduced in May last year when it was started, after a comparison with trade union organizations, the measure that previews for citizens does not exempt a sharing of 2.20 euros per package of medicine, up to a maximum of 4 euros per recipe. Citizens exempt from payment are 1 million and 650 thousand, about 1 out of 3, including cancer patients, with chronic or rare diseases, invalids, unemployed and people in situations of economic discomfort.
Emilia-Romagna has been among the last Italian regions to introduce the ticket, choosing a payment based on income bands like in Tuscany, Marche, Umbria and Basilicata. And not at a fixed altitude as it happens in Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Veneto, in the province of Bolzano, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia.
“We have always said that the introduction of a drug contribution has been a disproportionate but inevitable choice, because it would have an alternative to a further definancing of the health system, which is not adequately guaranteed by the Government – emphasizes the Councillor for Health Policies, Massimo Fabi –. A year later, thanks to the contribution of healthcare companies, of tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and operators, we balanced the accounts of our health, in a national context of chronic sub-financing, investing in time the funds of the Pnrr and building a territorial network that will guarantee more effectiveness of the care and more close to people. In addition – continues Fabi- having reversed the trend of pharmaceutical spending is an important result towards that goal of appropriateness prescribed by all indicated as the main road for a better public service, as we have maintained and will continue to maintain the commitment to safeguard the most risky categories, to ensure that the fundamental right to health is protected.”.
From May to December 2025 the ticket was totalling €32.7 million and it covered 16 million packages, that is about a third of those total delivered. Those exempt from tickets were over 31 million. At the same time, the regional health system has worked on a profound revision of the mechanisms of expenditure, drastically reducing its deficit: from a requirement of 194 million in 2024, it has gone to -54 million in 2025 and the balance sheet is expected in 2026. An effort carried out in a context of heavy national sub-financing: in 2025 the increase of the national fund was 1.8%, faced with an increase in health expenditure of 3.4%. It does not correspond, therefore, to the true claim that the tickets were introduced to cover the health deficit.
In the period May-December 2025 the recipes decreased by 3.6% compared to the same period of the previous year: almost 1.5 million less, with a decrease of almost 20 million euros of pharmaceutical spending. But the decrease concerned only the recipes that did not report an exemption code: -24% on 2024. Recipes with exemption code, instead, recorded an increase of 22%. In detail, a decrease of 11% of antibiotic packaging was recorded, an important factor in countering antibiotic resistance. And among the therapeutic categories for which a reduction in consumption has been observed, there are some of those at greater risk of inappropriateness starting from the inhibitors of the acid pump (-11%), omega3 and vitamin D, of which a use not entirely justified.
The reduction of antibiotic consumption has also been verified on the flow of traceability of the drug, which records the deliveries made by companies and distributors to the pharmacies agreed, to confirm an effective lower recourse to this type of drugs and not to a shift of dispensing to the private expense of the citizens.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
