6.5 Health and Well-Being

Health and Well-Being 🏥 💊 💉 👨🏼‍⚕️

Healthcare is very important in Italian society because the system in place works extremely hard to ensure that its citizens are maintaining quality health, preventing and managing diseases, and living long 😃 (as evidenced by the average life expectancy of 83 years). Italy might suffer from high unemployment and an unstable job market, but its people are some of the healthiest in the world. Italians have significantly lower blood pressure and cholesterol than Americans and an overall less stressful lifestyle.

*According to TreeHugger, "The Global Health Index looked at 163 countries. It calculated a ‘health score’, based on likeliness of mortality by disease or injury, life expectancy at various ages, and probability of survival at key times. From this score is subtracted ‘health risk penalties,’ which measure damaging behavioral factors (i.e. smoking, obesity, and childhood malnutrition) and environmental factors (i.e. pollution and lack of clean drinking water). The final result is a ‘health grade.’

• Italy is the #1 country in the world, with a health grade of 93.11 👍🏻
• USA is only #34 in the world, with a health grade of 73.05

Why Do Italians Live so Long??

• Strong healthcare system
• Mediterranean diet — fresh fruit 🍇, vegetables 🍅, fish 🐟, olive oil
• Healthy work/pleasure balance
• Nice pace of life — values sunshine 🌞, family time, long walks...
• Mindset — more relaxed, less stressed

Healthcare System 👨🏽‍⚕️ 👩🏾‍⚕️

The healthcare system in Italy is a regionally-based national health service known as Servizio Sanitario Nazionale. It provides universal coverage to citizens, free of charge, and treatments such as tests, medicines, surgeries, and doctor visits are all covered. The public healthcare facilities vary based on region, and the wealth in that specific area, but overall, Italy has some of the best doctors and hospitals in the world.

San Raffaelle Hospital in Milan, Image Courtesy of Wikipedia

Italy vs USA: Healthcare Edition

• Italy - sistema pubblico gratuito, tasse elevate da pagare per le cure, meno medici e linee più lunghe negli ospedali, diviso tra Nord / Sud in termini di qualità dell'assistenza sanitaria
• USA - sistema pubblico chiamato "Medicare" ma la maggior parte delle persone ha assistenza privata, molte persone bisognose non hanno assistenza sanitaria perché troppo costosa, un grande dibattito tra pubblico e privato
• BOTH - i medici ricevono la migliore istruzione, i cittadini italiani e gli stati uniti vivono molto a lungo, molti medici specializzati, un gran numero di iniziative per promuovere una migliore salute generale, non un sistema perfetto

Strive for Five Vocab 🔑 🔑

• L'assistenza sanitaria - healthcare
• La sanità - health
• La testa - head
• Il paziente - patient
• L'infermiere - nurse
• La farmacia - pharmacy
• Il/la dottore - doctor
• L'assicurazione - insurance
• Salutare - to be healthy
• Il sostengo - support
• Tenere in vita - to keep alive