Doctors, insurance and emergencies in Milan

Registering with the SSN

The Servizio Sanitario Nazionale is run regionally. In Milan, ATS Città Metropolitana di Milano plans and pays for care, while the hospital trusts, the ASSTs, run the scelta e revoca counters where you actually register and choose a medico di medicina generale for your area. Once you have residenza, or a valid permesso or its receipt, you register with your codice fiscale and are issued the tessera sanitaria, which doubles as your codice fiscale card and is what you present everywhere. Changing doctor can also be done online through the Lombardy Fascicolo Sanitario Elettronico with SPID or CIE.

• Bring codice fiscale, ID, residenza or self-certification, and the residence permit or its receipt if applicable.
• Registration is free for employees, the self-employed and family members; others with a permit over three months buy private cover or register voluntarily, from €2,000 a year (€700 for students with no income), by calendar year and not pro-rated.
• EU arrivals can use the EHIC in the gap before registering.

The ticket, and what public care costs

Public care is not entirely free: a co-payment called the ticket applies to specialist visits, diagnostics and non-urgent emergency attendances, capped nationally at €36.15 per prescription, with exemptions by income, age and condition. Tariffs were updated on 21 September 2026, taking a first specialist visit to about €26. GP visits and hospital admission are free. Waiting lists for non-urgent specialist appointments are the system's weak point, which is why a great many residents pay privately for the appointment and use the public system for the treatment.

• Specialist appointments are booked through the CUP regional booking system, by phone or online.
• Your prescription from the medico di base determines the priority code and therefore the wait.
• Exemption codes for income or chronic conditions are applied for separately.

Private and intramoenia care

Milan has the deepest private healthcare market in Italy, and many public hospital consultants also see patients privately within the same hospital under the intramoenia scheme — same doctor, same building, faster appointment, paid privately. Private insurance is a common employer benefit and is used mainly to shorten waits and cover dentistry, which is almost entirely private in Italy.

Pharmacies and emergencies

Farmacie are marked by a green cross, pharmacists advise and dispense widely, and a rota keeps one open overnight in each area with the list posted in the others' windows. 112 is the single emergency number and covers ambulance, police and fire. Hospital pronto soccorso uses colour-coded triage, so a serious case moves fast and a minor one can wait many hours — for the latter, the continuità assistenziale out-of-hours doctor on 116117 or a private clinic is faster.