A care allowance of 850 euros per month which will be added to the accompanying allowance (531.76 euros), for a total of approximately 1,380 euros: it is the so-called “universal benefit”, i.e. the most striking innovation of the implementing decree which aims to provide concrete answers regarding the reform on care for the elderly in Italy and which is being officially launched today by the Council of Ministers. A framework law, 33 of 23 March 2023, prescribed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), in response to the serious Italian shortcomings in the care and care of over 65s, both able-bodied and non-self-sufficient.
From next year, therefore, 26 thousand non-self-sufficient elderly people over eighty, with a very serious level of care need and with an ISEE of less than 6 thousand euros will be recipients of the “Universal benefit”.
When the revocation takes effect
The allowance of 850 euros will be revoked (but the accompanying allowance will still remain) when it is not spent, as required by the decree, to pay for the care and assistance work carried out by “caregivers” or to purchase the assistance from service companies. The universal benefit redesigned by the decree, precisely because of the very narrow boundaries in which the Ministry of Economy defined it, has stored some of the criticisms coming from the Regions and associations, as well as the observations of the House and Senate commissions.
As reported by Il Sole24Ore, the provision interprets downwards the dictates of law 33, which did not establish a defined audience either with respect to age or ISEE and which furthermore – given the fixed quota decided by the decree – had prescribed a ” universal benefit graduated according to the specific care need and disbursable, at the choice of the beneficiary, in the form of monetary transfer and personal services”.
The objectives
Among the objectives of the measure is to avoid isolation and loneliness by making the home the center of care for the elderly. A reform that aims to combine social assistance and health care by promoting telemedicine and teleassistance and integrated home care. Prevention is better than cure and based on this adage, the new legislation promotes an active life with more sports for the elderly, with wellness tourism and slow tourism for the over 65s and a greater relationship between young and old.