Livelli essenziali, standard ospedalieri e riduzione dei posti letto: note a margine della sentenza della Corte n. 231 del 2017, rileggendo la n. 125 del 2015

The article comments the decision of Italian Constitutional Court no. 231/2017, which has declared unconstitutional the art. 1, par. 541, let. a) of the law no. 208/2015, about reduction of hospital beds. According to the Court, this provision has reproduced the art. 15, par. 13, let. c) of decretolegge no. 95/2012, which was already repealed by the decision no. 125/2015, in the part applicable to Provinces of Trento and Bolzano. The decision of 2017 calls for attention about a problem which, on closer inspection, affected also the decision of 2015, i.e. the effects of this pronouncement on the legality of regulation no. 70/2015 about hospital standards, whose fundament rests on the art. 13 d.l. 95/2012. The analysis of this problem and of the relationship between the two decisions inspire some critical observations about the conception of the constitutional clause of “essential levels of care” which the Court has expressed in the decision no. 125/2015 and in other ones.