Equity in healthcare financing in Italy

This Ph.D. dissertation discusses equity in healthcare financing in Italy. Each of the three chapters of this dissertation constitutes an independent research output, answering stand-alone research questions. Chapter 1 is a systematic review on equity in healthcare financing in OECD and non- OECD countries. This deals both with the methodology used and the evidence around the world on vertical equity in healthcare financing. Chapters 2 and 3 report empirical evidence from Italy. Chapter 2 analyses the progressivity of healthcare financing in the Italian system and focuses on Italian regions, performing a comparison of progressivity of the healthcare financing across regional systems. Chapter 3 provides an assessment of how differences in co-payments between the Italian regions contribute to growing inequalities in access to public health care services in Italy. A common ground among chapters is the measurement of equity and inequalities in health financing, with particular reference to differences among the Italian regions.