The privatization scheme triggered a surge of investment into rewarding specialties like oncology and cardiac surgery, while forsaking traditional family medicine. At Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital4—one of the finest facilities in Italy—booking an appointment as a regular user of the regional health system required calling in and sitting on hold for nearly forty minutes, while those who paid for VIP service secured slots in forty seconds. Among the direct beneficiaries of the marketization of regional health care was the man who had set it in motion—Formigoni.
