Inclusive Policies in Times of Crises. (Re)constructing Migrants’ Deservingness to Healthcare at the Front-line in Italy

Healthcare for migrants in Italy is indisputable. Irregular migrants are entitled to urgent and essential care, provided free-of-charge in case of indigence. They may obtain temporary permits of stay when in need of specific medical treatments. Repatriation may be stopped when they are diagnosed with pathologies that require medical treatments that are not available in their native counties. Thus, the Italian policy framework is highly inclusive. Yet, in a context of increased intra-EU mobility and “refugee crisis” on the one hand, and drastic cuts to economic and healthcare resources on the other, we might wonder how access to healthcare for migrants is concretely enacted, given that the responsibility to draw the line between those can access scarce institutional and economic resources and those who do not is in charge of gatekeepers of the healthcare system. By presenting an in-depth qualitative analysis of health workers’ discourses and practices in their encounters with migrants in ambiguous legal conditions requiring access to Piedmont healthcare system (irregular migrants, pending asylum seekers, EU citizens in condition of economic indigence), this study will highlight that different perceptions of the Italian economic situation and of the affordability of universal health coverage, as well as diverging moral constructions of migrants and their motivations behind migration, play a crucial role in shaping health workers’ practices of healthcare, who de facto decide “who gets what”.