British residents covered by the post-Brexit withdrawal agreement (WA) who are currently without access to healthcare are advised to pay the Italian government’s fees or get private insurance, the British government said in an update published on its Living in Italy website on Wednesday afternoon.
The recommendation is a sharp reversal from the UK government’s previous March 2024 update, which said that British residents covered by the WA should not be subject to fees for using the Italian national health service (servizio sanitario nazionale, or SSN).
“The Italian government has recently decided that British nationals who entered and have been living in Italy prior to January 1st 2021 and are beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement can register for free with the Italian national health system and are therefore not required to make voluntary contributions,” the update read at the time.
READ ALSO: Trouble proving residency rights leaves Brits in Italy paying €2k health charge
As of Wednesday afternoon, however, the site’s authors had removed this text, saying that the UK government’s representatives had been made aware of “inconsistencies amongst Italian authorities in interpreting and implementing” their own guidelines.
“British people with rights under the Withdrawal Agreement as elective residents (not in employment) who have not yet qualified for permanent residency have had significant problems accessing health services. This also affects renewing their healthcare cards,” the latest update reads.
“If this affects you and you have no healthcare cover, we recommend that you pay the voluntary contribution to register with the Italian National Health System, or get private health insurance.”
Many of The Local’s British readers have been battling local authorities’ varying interpretations of the rules for those who are covered by the WA.
READ ALSO: Why Brits in Italy say they’ve been ‘hung out to dry’ over €2K healthcare fee
Italy’s government significantly raised its ‘voluntary’ healthcare fee to a minimum annual charge of €2,000 from the start of 2024, though there has been a persistent lack of clarity over exactly who it applies to.
In the absence of clear national guidelines, local health authorities have reportedly applied differing interpretations of the rules for WA beneficiaries, with several British nationals reporting being wrongly charged the fee in January.
Britain’s embassies are as useful as chocolate teapots. The driving licence saga was disgraceful, now this.
There has been a lot of criticism of this headline as misleading – as if it applied to everyone – ‘clickbait