Lack of Self-Sufficiency: One Hour a Week Isn't Enough
Published on May 8, 2026One hour a week. This is the minimum level of service for home care for people who are not self-sufficient, as established by the Budget Law. Chiara Saraceno comments on this in no uncertain terms in an article published in*La Stampa*on January 7, 2026, in which she dismantles, one by one, the limitations of a system that continues to shift the entire burden of care onto families—especially women.
An hour that, as Saraceno points out, isn’t even guaranteed: it can be reduced or eliminated depending on the resources available in local budgets and the size of the beneficiary population. Those who need round-the-clock care, every day of the year, will find no relief in this measure. Nor will those family members who care for them.
The article also mentions the new fund provided for in the budget bill to support the role of family caregivers—a measure that is positive in itself but risks remaining a dead letter, as happened with a similar fund established in 2021. The suspicion, Saraceno writes, is that the intention is to give caregivers something to compensate for the lack of actual services, leaving them alone to bear a burden that should not fall solely on them.
In the background is the framework law on long-term care: still not implemented, still awaiting implementing decrees, and still lacking adequate funding.
A clear-sighted and necessary contribution that invites us to look beyond campaign promises and to evaluate policies based on how they actually affect people's lives.
📄Read the full article in La Stampa