Are all Italian newborns equal?

Excerpt

The debate on the restructuring of Chapter Five (Titolo Quinto) of the Italian Constitution has brought once again the issue of the allocation of powers between the State and its regions under the spotlight. According to Article 117 of the Italian Constitution, as reformed in 2001, the State and its regions share normative competences in regulating certain matters. In the field of core civil and social rights, including health care, it is the responsibility of the State to identify fundamental levels of services and assistance that have to be guaranteed to everyone across the nation. The aim of this provision was to prevent unacceptable disparities in the enjoyment of the right to health. In practice, however, this has not been the case. On the one hand, Italian regions have disciplined certain matters in fairly different ways, forcing the Ministry of Health to exercise its role of warrantor of fairness more than expected. On the other hand, the quality of services has been greatly affected by a “geographical” factor, depending on availability of resources, different organization of health system and bureaucracy at regional level. …