Health insurance penetration in Italy 2004-2018

The health insurance sector remains marginal in Italy, due to the fact that healthcare is free in the country. However, inefficiency and long waiting times led to an increase in popularity of the private sector and, hence, health insurance schemes. As data show, health insurance penetration remains low in Italy and reached 0.16 percent in 2018.
Insurance penetration is defined as insurance premiums as a percentage of GDP, and is deemed the standard measure to check the development of a country's insurance market.