Towards free oral contraception in Italy? In any case, this is what the Prices and Reimbursement Committee of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) wants, which voted in its favor on April 22, 2023. The provision, which still needs to be examined by the AIFA board of directors before being entered in the Official Gazette, will concern all women without age limits.
A device estimated at 140 million euros a year for the state coffers
If the decision was applauded by the Pd, as well as by the alliance of the greens and the left, the right in power of Giorgia Meloni (openly anti-abortion), was very critical. Since AIFA is an independent body, the Ministry of Health cannot interfere and has therefore summoned the Medicines Agency to ” come back “, believing that there is” many other social and health priorities to manage in Italy “.
The question had been in the air for some time. The Medicines Agency, which is to be reformed in the summer, has issued its verdict in extremis, recording, at the same time, the free Prep. Everything should go into effect in the next few weeks.
A not insignificant choice for Italy, a bad student in the field of sexual and reproductive rights: in 2019 the Ministry of Health estimated, for example, that 67% of the peninsula’s gynecologists objected in conscience (i.e. they have already invoked the conscience clause for refusing to perform an abortion). A figure that even rises to 80% in five of the twenty Italian regions, including the Rome region.
The contraceptive pill distributed free in some places
According to AIFA data, 2.5 million Italian women take the pill every day. In some regions, this can be obtained for free through family planning. But the device does not concern all centres, nor all generations of the pill.
This new measure would therefore open access to contraception to as many people as possible and lift the economic brake that deters some patients from using contraception. It remains to know the terms of this free, because not all contraceptive pills will be affected.
In France, from 1um January 2022, health insurance fully covers the cost of contraception and related procedures (one consultation per year with a doctor or midwife and any biological tests). But the measure only affects women under the age of 26.
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
