From 2025, around 25 thousand elderly people will benefit from “universal benefit”: The carer’s allowance (currently equal to 531.76 euros) will be supplemented by another quota and will increase to 1,380 euros to allow them to pay for carers or other services. This is the main innovation contained in the decree law on the implementation of policies in favor of the elderly, approved by the Council of Ministers yesterday, January 25. The law will need to be examined in Parliament.
Who is entitled to universal assistance?
This benefit is not available to all seniors. Universal benefit is designed for people over the age of eighty who are not self-sufficient, have very serious care needs and have an ISEE of less than six thousand euros.
This is a two-year trial. A tranche of over a billion euros was made available to kick-start the reform, of which 300 was earmarked for universal service. Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policies Maria Teresa Bellucci says: “A reform that has been awaited for 20 years, and it is a reform that is imposed by the fact that we are the first country in Europe in terms of the number of older people, this is a priority for the Government.” Second in the world after Japan”.
“As promised – says Prime Minister Meloni – we have approved a legislative provision implementing the ‘Pact of the Third Age’: this is just one phase of the reform, of which we are proud and which Italy has been waiting for more than 20 years. A path forward across the legislature Two With the start of trials of a universal benefit worth over €1 billion per year and which will allow the accompanying allowance for the most vulnerable and needy elderly to be increased by over 200%, we are finally providing concrete answers to the needs of our more than 14 million elderly people, self-sufficient people and their families. “With the awareness that the elderly represent the government, it has worked on a structural policy reform in favor of the elderly since its inception. This is the history of the nation. I would like to thank all ministries for the joint work that has allowed us to launch a new national policy management for the elderly.”
The reform has several goals: to prevent the isolation of the elderly, to increase social assistance and health services by promoting telemedicine, teleassistance and integrated home care. “In the note published after the Council of Ministers, we support the use of new forms of home care and co-living at home for the elderly and intergenerational co-living; finally, measures to promote the mobility of the elderly are being introduced in the region,” it says. provision of local public transport services through the establishment of a special fund and provisions on computer literacy and digital facilitation”.
More care for the elderly: new services
In the provision approved by the Council of Ministers, “the possibility of obtaining a multidimensional assessment is guaranteed for the provision of guidance and information support to the elderly within the scope of single access points (Pua), aimed at promoting full access to health, social and socio-economic opportunities.” -health interventions and services”.
Among other things, the basic “Combined Multidimensional Assessment” (VMU) at the national level is envisaged “for the orientation of the elderly person and the determination of his/her state of self-sufficiency and related care needs”. .
We also introduce:
- integrated home help and care offer aimed at the delivery of interventions at home, characterized by specific care pathways and a variable level of intensity and complexity of care within the scope of the integrated individual care project;
- provision of residential and semi-residential social assistance and health services;
- Strengthening local palliative care networks.
Care allowance, who is entitled to it and how to get it?
From 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2026, a universal benefit will be introduced on an experimental basis and within a maximum annual spending limit of 300 million, consisting of a fixed part and an additional amount defined as a “care allowance”. It is intended to gradually replace the purchase of services and the accompanying allowance.
To receive a benefit allowance from INPS you need:
- be at least 80 years old;
- needs very serious care (defined by INPS);
- An ISEE not exceeding six thousand.
The fixed fee is the accompanying allowance (€527.16 per month); The surcharge is equal to 850 euros per month and is intended to “cover the cost of care and assistance work carried out by domestic workers or the purchase of services for care and assistance work”.
Source: Today IT
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
