The Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN)
The state healthcare body, the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale provides first class basic care.  All nationals and those foreigners who pay contributions to the state fund through taxes are entitled to care from the national health scheme. Employees’ contributions are deducted directly from their salaries. Employers must pay the IRAP tax (Imposta Regionale Sulle Attività Produttive) for every employee they employ. Self-employed people must pay the tax themselves.

Residing foreigners who wish to register for state healthcare need to leave their application for a libretto sanitario, which proves your eligibility to the scheme. It lasts for five years and you must present it each time you need medical care. You must take the following documents to your local medical authority office called ASL or the Azienda Sanità Locale: - passport, residence permit, a family status certificate to register dependant family members (this certificate is available from your local town hall), your codice fiscale (available from your local tax office) and a letter from your employer, which contains the date you started work or in the case of students, proof that you attend a college or university. Your libretto sanitario entitles you to free doctors and some specialist care, free or subsidised prescription medicine, subsidised outpatient treatment, free hospitalisation, subsidised dental treatment, maternity care and emergency treatment. The cost of spectacles, hearing aids and visits to medical specialists can be deducted against tax, providing you keep all of your medical receipts.

Once you are registered, you will be given a list of state enrolled doctors to choose. They usually display signs saying convenzionato or con la mutual. If you have dependant children less than six years of age, you must also choose a paediatrician known as a pediatra.  Each family member will also be given a national health number and a health card called a tessera sanitaria, which must be renewed each year. Your medical records are logged into this book.