Special Circumstances for Care
If you live in an area which is served by a different Local Health Authority than your own, you are entitled to receive free assistance from a doctor in your current area. In order to receive health care in another area however, you are required to meet two conditions:
your stay in the area must be longer than three months
your reasons for staying should be studying, work or illness.
This temporary registration with a different Local Health Authority is typically valid for up to one year (or two years for those people living in a care home). The registration can be renewed and extended to cover a maximum of three years, if the specific conditions of temporary residence are still fulfilled.
In addition to temporary registration, there are certain special circumstances when you will, or will not, be entitled to medical care in Italy. These include:
Non EU-citizens who live or stay for a short time in Italy, and have a valid residence permit, are entitled to register with the National Health Service and use the services to which their medical card entitles them: access the National Health System for medicines, examinations and treatments prescribed by a GP.
Foreign citizens who live in Italy but do not have the required documents nor a residence permit are not entitled to register with the National Health Service. However, they are entitled to emergency care, maternity care and immunisations, and are issued with a special medical card, detailed below.
Foreign citizens under eighteen years of age, who have been either adopted or fostered by Italians, are entitled to care from the National Health Service once they have been adopted, or their foster care has begun, and they have entered Italy.
A foreign husband or wife, if financially dependent on their Italian spouse, is entitled to health assistance for the duration of their stay.
People who do not have a valid residence permit can get a special medical card (STP). With this card, you are entitled to the following assistance free of charge:
every urgent, or absolutely necessary, treatment in GP surgeries or hospitals following an accident
basic health assistance
special assistance in the following circumstances: maternity, pregnancy termination, health care for underage people, prevention and treatment of infective diseases
basic medicines
It is important to note that people who use the National Health Service without having a valid residence permit are not reported to the police.
