Bank of Italy in Hearing: Public Health Spending Is 6.3% of GDP, Against 10% in France and Germany
According to Andrea Brandolini of the Bank of Italy, testifying on the budget bill, public health spending is 6.3% of GDP against about 10% in France and Germany, with households paying 1.9%.
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Testifying on the budget bill before the joint budget committees of the Chamber and the Senate, the Bank of Italy compared Italy's system with its European peers: according to Andrea Brandolini, head of the Economics and Statistics Department, Italian public health spending is 6.3% of GDP, against around 10% in France and Germany, and is not very different from twenty years ago despite an ageing population. Italian households pay a further 1.9% of GDP directly, more than in France and Germany. Overall, the institute says, the budget increases the deficit by 0.5 percentage points of GDP on average over the next two years.
The reference figure is 6.3%: that is what public health spending is worth in Italy as a share of GDP, according to the Bank of Italy, against "a value of around ten per cent for both France and Germany". The figure was given by the head of the institute's Economics and Statistics Department, Andrea Brandolini, during the hearing on the budget bill held by the budget committees of the Chamber and the Senate on November 12, 2026, as La Stampa reports.
According to the central bank, the figure is also a historical one: "in our country, the level is not very different from twenty years ago, despite population ageing". Public spending is matched by spending paid directly by households, which according to Brandolini "accounts for about 1.9% of GDP, a higher value than in Germany and France, 1.4 and 1.2% respectively": both figures appear in the Sole 24 ORE Radiocor report from the same hearing.
On the overall picture, La Stampa quotes the institute: "The discretionary increase in the deficit, however temporary, is costly, especially for an economy with high debt and in a context of high interest rates such as the current one". According to the Bank of Italy, the budget raises the deficit "by 0.5 percentage points of GDP on average over the next two years and by 0.1 points in 2029", and in 2027 net borrowing would rise for the first time since 2020. Defence and energy spending are among the main items, according to the reconstruction.
On health, La Stampa reports that the budget gives the National Fund an extra 2.4 billion euros a year, aimed at tariffs paid to care institutions and at staff pay in emergency services, plus a 300-euro card for the over-75s tied to pension income rather than the Isee indicator.
The funding falls mainly on banks and insurers. According to La Stampa, Brandolini identified the higher taxation of banks and insurers as "the most substantial discretionary funding tool in the bill", with provisions cutting borrowing by 4.4 billion euros in 2027, 2.5 billion in 2028 and 0.8 billion in 2029; the package includes cutting the deductible share of Irap on administrative costs from 90% to 30%. ANSA reports another point from the same hearing: the rule spreading the 2023 superbonus credits over ten annual instalments "helps contain the dynamics of public debt in 2027" but, according to the central bank, "could produce significant impacts on the profit and loss account" of banks in their 2026 statements, and also affects companies' liquidity.
The budget figures read better alongside the other work items the network has covered in recent days, the framework deal on pay and contracts and the school strike of November 20.