MESTRE (Venice) – The pension equalization mechanism risks having a downside: the loss of the exemption from the ticket for the elderly in families whose total income exceeds 36 thousand euros gross. There are regions that have tried to stem this problem, not Veneto: Cisl Veneto and Fnp Veneto, the pensioners’ acronym, are therefore asking the Region for a solution in our territory too. “While waiting for a national provision, for which as CISL we are lobbying the Government, we believe a corrective measure at local level is necessary. And for this purpose we ask the Veneto Region to open a discussion with the trade unions to identify the best path – explains Gianfranco Refosco, general secretary of CISL Veneto –. It is a question of equal access to services and the right to health, which for many elderly people and their families clearly risks being undermined.”
Ticket exemption for those over 65
For elderly people aged 65 and over, the family income limit to be exempt from paying tickets is set at national level at 36,151.98 euros. Limit established again in 1998: in lire it amounted to 70 million, the figure was transformed into euros and never updated over the years. The problem is that this limit is today easily overcome even by families with low pensions: for example, two net pensions of 1,100 euros per month are enough to exceed the limit and lose the exemption.
“From some reports of pensioners who have had their ticket exemption revoked, we have studied the problem and involved our local offices with an information campaign to collect further data”, explains Tina Cupani, general secretary of Fnp Venetowho adds: “Equalization is a right and serves to link the amount of pensions to inflation. Already the distortions of the mechanism in force in Italy have not defended the effective purchasing power of pensioners, which has collapsed over the years, but losing even important support such as the exemption for health benefits, which are frequent in old age, is truly a mockery”.
The requests
If work must be done at a national level to review the family income limit for ticket exemption for the over 65s, at a local level Cisl Veneto and Fnp Veneto ask the Region to introduce a regional exemption. It can be done and in other parts of Italy, such as in Lombardy and in the autonomous province of Bolzano, it has been done. The Lombardy Region, for example, already introduced in 2007 with a Dgr an exemption from the ticket for elderly people whose family income is between 36,151.98 and 38,500 euros. Surely a measure of this kind would also protect many elderly people in Veneto who are now in the balance.
