What shall I do if I need medical assistance?
Cosa devo fare se ho bisogno di assistenza medica?
EN: 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy: essential health advice for travelers. Learn how healthcare works in Lombardy, insurance rules, EHIC, co-pay fees, and tips to stay safe during the Games.
IT: Olimpiadi invernali 2026 in Italia: consigli essenziali sulla salute per i viaggiatori. Scopri come funziona l'assistenza sanitaria in Lombardia, le regole assicurative, la tessera sanitaria europea (TEAM), i ticket e i consigli per la sicurezza durante i Giochi. In allegato è disponibile la guida sia in italiano che in inglese.
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games will take place in Italy from 6 to 22 February and will be followed by the Paralympic Games from 6 to 15 March. If you are travelling to attend, follow this health advice to protect your health and well-being.
General information
The Lombardy Health Service (LHS) is well known for its high standards and efficiency. There are over 200 private and public accredited hospitals and 18 research hospitals (IRCCS). Most hospitals are run by the Lombardy Health Service, while about 22.4% of beds are in private hospitals, either profit or not-for-profit.
Quality and Safety is the chief priority of the LHS. Several public and private hospitals in Lombardy increasingly attract patients from other Italian regions and abroad. Lombardy is particularly notable for the presence of some of the most important centres of excellence for cancer care and research, as well as for other disciplines, including surgical specialties (cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, paediatric surgery, robotic surgery, etc.).
Many hospitals in Lombardy have international links with other hospitals or research institutes, and experience in international partnerships and cooperation projects.
In Lombardy access to health care is free?
Lombardy has universal healthcare coverage, but only some services are completely free. The co-pay fee is called “Ticket” and it is applied to some emergency room visits, specialist consultations, diagnostic procedures and lab analyses.
I’m an EU country citizen or an extra EU, should I need a health insurance?
European Citizens are eligible to access freely in Italy to healthcare under the European Mechanism of Health Insurance. The services will be offered at no fee or at a lower fee. In the second case in the home country the citizen is eligible to a refund belonging to the national health coverage system. The access to the emergency department is always free. The access to out of hours GP assistance is under the payment of a co-pay fee of 20,00 euros at the clinic, 35 euros at home. The EU citizen accessing an NHS service will be asked to provide the national health insurance card with the European Health Insurance Card – EHIC number.
Not EU citizen has to verify if it’s existing a mutual agreement between their country and Italy to access to free or lower fee NHS services.
At private practices it’s all out of pocket services, so it’s a full private fee.
Olympic cluster will have access to Olympic health services following the specific instructions given to this kind of patients.
More information is available at the Italian Ministry of Health dedicated pages:
Allegati
Versione in lingua italiana - Cosa devo fare se ho bisogno di assistenza medica?
English language version - What shall I do if I need medical assistance?