status viatoris – being ‘on the way’/being in a state of pilgrimage
There is a very blink-and-you-miss-it quality to much legislation in Italy and my most recent example of its fickle nature ran along the following lines:
Sometime in early December whilst visiting the local Azienda Sanitaria Local (ASL) in order to sign up with a general practitioner in the hope of getting some of my asthma medication subsidised (currently paying 70€ a month for just one of my inhalers)…
SV (taking a number): 197, the board says 160, so only 36 people between me and my goal. Great!
40 minutes later
SV: 197, the board says 179, only 18 people between me and my goal. Hrrumph.
35 minutes later
SV: 197, the board says 197. I guess that means it’s my turn. Unfortunately I seem to have lost the will to live.
ASL woman: I’m afraid rules for EU citizens have changed. You can no longer sign on with a doctor unless you have a work contract. If you do not have a work contract, you must go and sign on at the unemployment office and bring us the unemployment certificate in order to be put on a doctor’s list. We can then send you to an asthma specialist.
SV: Ok.
Sometime in early January (Yes, yes. It always take me a little while to get round to things) whilst visiting the local Centro per l’Impiego – Ufficio di Collocamento as was – in order to sign on…
SV (peering about her): There are no signs, no numbers and nobody to ask. I wonder if I’m in the right queue.
45 minutes later
Centro per l’Impiego man: I don’t know why ASL have sent you here, they’re not supposed to send people here anymore. Go back and tell them they shouldn’t have sent you here.
20 minutes later in the local ASL offices…
SV (taking a number): 207. 153 on the board. That would make it 53 people between me and my goal. I should have brought a book. War and Peace, perhaps.
70 minutes later
ASL man: I’m afraid rules for EU citizens have changed. You can no longer sign on with a doctor unless you have a work contract, even then, you will only be covered by the Italian healthcare system for as long as your work contract lasts. If you do not have a work contract, then you will have to pay for everything even if you are signed on at the employment office.
SV: Ok.
***
Well, what else could I say? I don’t currently contribute to the Italian healthcare system and haven’t lived here long enough to account for any significant contribution in the past.
I understand: public financial resources are not infinite, as we are all discovering to our cost, I JUST WISH THEY’D MAKE UP THEIR MINDS!!!!
This is Status Viatoris, for whom Pooch has valiantly offered to give up his dog biscuits and live entirely off scraps and titbits from the local shops and bars so she can afford her meds. He is sooooooo self-sacrificing that boy 
18/01/2012 at 22:17 |
Those scraps and titbits must be pretty good..Pooch is no fool…and if he puts on his ‘pathetic dog’ expression he’ll need a wheelbarrow to carry his loot.
19/01/2012 at 08:38 |
Yes, I feel that his gesture of self-sacrifice was not quite as selfless as he tried to make out…
19/01/2012 at 08:35 |
Bisogna assolutamente tenere a mente alcune cose quando si ha a che fare con gli uffici pubblici:
- la prima è una scena de “Le 12 fatiche di Asterix” ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-SxO8ZgH3o ) che, seppur prodotto in Francia, è perfettamente sovrapponibile all’Italia;
- la seconda è che fare la coda all’ASL è il modo migliore per comprendere, a pieno, il concetto di eternità;
- la terza è che la burocrazia è gestita dall’ UCAS, ufficio complicazioni affari semplice, il cui compito, oltre al complicare quanto c’è di semplice, è anche quello di far girare i cittadini da un ufficio all’altro illudendoli che la loro pratica possa fare progressi; in ogni caso, una volta raccolta e integrata tutta la documentazione, ci vorrà almeno un mese per la risposta
- l’ultima cosa è che impiegati diversi hanno notizie diverse perché alcuni sono più aggiornati di altri in quanto più scrupolosi, evento non troppo comune, nel loro lavoro; ma anche perché in Italia le leggi cambiano a seconda della legislatura in corso, quindi almeno ogni due anni, e dato che a noi piace prorogare le leggi è sempre una sorpresa quando le proroghe terminano.
Se vuoi posso informarmi presso un amico che lavora nell’ASL…
19/01/2012 at 13:40 |
Ho appena guardato sto video, mi ha riportato tanti belli ricordi di burocrazie passate – Spagna, Francia, Italia… Non c’e modo migliore per perdere tutto un giorno insieme alla tua salute mentale! Devo tradurre il tuo commentario per i lettori inglesi, mi hai fatto troppo ridere…
I have translated some of Gabriele’s comment into English, it is too funny to keep to myself!
- queuing up at the ASL is the best way to fully understand the concept of eternity.
- bureaucracy is managed by UCAS (Office of Complicating Simple Matters) whose job, other than complicating simple matters, is also to send citizens from one office to another in the belief that that procedure constitutes progress. Either way, once all the documentation has been collected, it will take at least a month to get an answer.
- different employees have different versions of what is actual, because some are better informed and more scrupulous than others (although that is quite rare) in their jobs, but also because in Italy the law changes depending on what legislation is current, so at least every two years. And as we like to defer legislation, it is always a surprise when that deferral comes to an end.
Grazie, Gabriele!
19/01/2012 at 12:23 |
If you want to hear an interesting view about Italians and their attitude towards illness, try listening to Radio 4′s From Our Own Correspondent, Dec 3, 2011. I’d be intrigued by your thoughts on the matter, SV – and as you have also lived in France, did you find that every trifling malady you had was treated with a suppository, or is that a malicious rumour spread by the English?
19/01/2012 at 13:18 |
The Italians seem to be quite fond of suppositories, I was even offered one to rid myself of a headache once… It was never suggested to me whilst I was in France, but that doesn’t mean they are not self-medicating via the tradesmen’s entrance behind closed doors
20/01/2012 at 07:35 |
Oh lord, what a run-around, what an absolutely typical run-around. We once went to an office to find and fill in a form. The form itself was in one office, but it needed to be turned in at another office all the way across town. I don’t understand why you don’t have health-care. You are an official resident of Italy? For years (maybe recent legislation has changed it) we simply went to ASL and paid something for our year’s coverage – something along the lines of E 300. Now that Speedy is a citizen things are different for us – but I wonder why you’ve not been able to do the same thing. Because you’re still of working age? Can I give you a contract for work? You could write my blog for me – you’re much more amusing!
20/01/2012 at 11:34 |
That sounds very interesting (the 300€ a year for a tessera sanitaria, not the writing of your blog which you do far better than I ever could!). I shall have a chat with my neighbour/ex-landlady/mayoress who worked for 20 years for the ASL and still has oodles of contacts. And as we both know, in Italy it is ALL about the contacts! Failing that, I shall just have to marry a local, hey ho.