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I just recently received an offer to work at the UN in Rome, and I would really like to move my family over there (we're currently in the US, and are US citizens). However, my wife is 5 months pregnant, and I found out that she will not be covered by my medical insurance. Are there options for purchasing medical insurance? Are the costs typically pretty reasonable? Or, if medical insurance is not possible, what would be the costs (rough estimate) of having a child in Rome?

random_forest_fanatic
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We have universal healthcare so there is no such thing as "health insurance" here. Your employer have to pay taxes on your behalf that cover that. You have to register with your doctor of the mutua though.

I suggest you to go in hospitals in the north for any serious problem.

gurghet
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    This does not appear to fully address the question. I know several countries in Europe that have statutory insurance systems (being mandatory, more-or-less universal and funded by taxes does not preclude that). And whether the system is insurance-based or not (à la NHS), there can still be corner cases and people who are not covered. What happens when you show up at the hospital? Do you have to show some social insurance card? What if you don't have one? What happens to people who are not employed? You do realize that the UN and all other international organizations do not pay taxes? – Gala Nov 04 '14 at 05:46
  • @Gala No it doesn't work that way. There are no corner cases as ‘coverage’ is not well defined in an universal healthcare system. When you show up at the hospital, in the north, they are required to ask you documents by the law, but they never do that as it directly violates medical deontological code (I am talking about ER). Documents are really important only when there is nothing serious going on and yeah at that point you are going to pay anyways so what gives? – gurghet Nov 04 '14 at 14:32
  • What is “universal healthcare system” supposed to mean precisely? For example, are GP self-employed, only working in hospitals, working directly for the state, for some other organization? What about specialists? What sort of “document” are you referring to? I have no idea how it works in Italy, my point is that it's generally far from being as simple or obvious as you seem to imagine. – Gala Nov 04 '14 at 15:12
  • And no, in many countries people don't pay for GP consultations even if they don't have anything serious enough to justify a visit to the ER (that's what I would understand under “universal healthcare”, access to the ER is the bare minimum a modern healthcare system can offer). That has really nothing to do with the structure of the system, it can work that way with state-regulated private insurers (e.g. the Netherlands), state-run insurers or by paying GPs directly (the NHS). – Gala Nov 04 '14 at 15:18
  • @Gala but you miss the fact that 99% of the times the medici della mutua send you at the ER anyways. Even for a cough. So at that point you would go there, be treated and pay what we call "ticket" which is a small fee you pay when you are healthy, because a cough is a ridiculous reason to go to the ER. If his wife has in fact a permit to stay, she will receive the same services. – gurghet Nov 04 '14 at 15:23
  • And you seem to be missing the point entirely… – Gala Nov 04 '14 at 15:29
  • @Gala no, I get that you are talking about the technicalities and how things are supposed to work. I was pointing out that that's not important and talking about the practicalities and how things really work. – gurghet Nov 04 '14 at 15:31
  • @gurghet So, just to clarify, the cost of having a child will be a small fee (the "ticket") assuming my wife has a "permit to stay"? Will she have a "permit to stay" as long as she is there legally (i.e. through my employment)? How exactly does that work? And, thank you both for the conversation, this helps a lot! – random_forest_fanatic Nov 04 '14 at 17:14
  • @gurghet You've also mentioned that "in the north" the process works this way. Is it substantially different in the south? Is Roma considered to be "in the north"? – random_forest_fanatic Nov 04 '14 at 17:16
  • @gurghet Not really, no. I think a good answer would provide some basic information about the structure of the system and then explain what the requirements actually are in practice, for a range of practitioners/situations. You have only told us it is “universal healthcare” (a pretty vague description), that it means there is no insurance and no notion of “coverage” (a non sequitur), that the OP employer pays taxes for it (which is demonstrably false) and that none of this matters because he can go to the ER (which is true in most places but not really what the question is about). – Gala Nov 04 '14 at 17:44
  • And then there is this annoying little fact about registering “with your doctor of the mutua” (whatever that means, it seems to make little sense if the rest of what you are saying is taken literally). Meanwhile you deliberately ignored all the practical questions I asked in the hope of shedding some light on this and letting you improve your answer. Might it be because you don't actually know? – Gala Nov 04 '14 at 17:45
  • @Gala I don't know how it should have be done properly, but I have plenty of friends who are not Italian citizen and live here on the basis of a "permesso di soggiorno" and they pretty much do the same things I do. The main document you need is the "tessera sanitaria" which is released on regional basis but it works all across the European Union. My friend have it and last time I checked the only requirement is registration in the municipal government. – gurghet Nov 04 '14 at 20:32
  • @random_forest_fanatic quality of hospitals vary wildly even among hospitals in the same city so if you'll ever have to do something serious, you'll find excellent services, just do some search first. Rome is definitely not in the North but there you can find Fatebenefratelli (excellent) and Tor Vergata (crowded to say the least) among others, but in general the service is above average. – gurghet Nov 04 '14 at 20:45
  • doctor of the mutua is basically your "personal" doctor during office hours, any other time the "guardia medica" takes his place. Basically you should choose/register with said doctor, I don't know how to do that. This doctors have 1500 patients and are basically useless since they don't have time for you. – gurghet Nov 04 '14 at 20:51
  • @gurghet Do you know what is required to obtain the "permesso di soggiorno"? Will my wife be eligible for one if she as a dependent, even though I won't be paying taxes? – random_forest_fanatic Nov 06 '14 at 10:52