Politiche di LTC e disuguaglianze nel caso italiano: evidenze empiriche e ipotesi di riforma

In the international literature about long term care policies, Italy is a well known case in which care needs of dependent elderly people are covered to a large extent by families and informal networks, partially supported by cash for care schemes, especially the Attendance Allowance (a universalistic, unconditional cash for care scheme). On the other hand, in- kind services are very residual. The increasing recent expansion of a private market based on a massive involvement of migrant care workers directly recruited (mostly in an irregular way) by families is also recognized as a distinctive feature of the Italian case. However how this care system impacts on socio-economic inequalities is currently under-investigated. Against such background the article’s goals is to analyze how the care needs of dependent elderly people are unequally met across different social groups, considering both the ac- cess to informal networks, private care market and public services. The results show the existence of deep socio-economic inequalities in how care arrangements are organized. The structural features of the public long term care system contribute to radicalize such inequalities. To tackle such issue a radical reform of the Italian long care system is pro- posed. In such process, a reform of the Attendance Allowance is suggested as the most important change to be pursued.