This work highlights the cuts and definitions that have characterized the recent history of the National Health System. It is difficult to argue that fiscal consolidation policies have not had a significant and permanent impact on the availability of resources available to Italian public health. Secondly, through a regression analysis, the main variables that influence the differentials in the number of beds in the various countries are estimated. Even if the estimates reveal a negative relationship between the cost per bed and the number of beds, it is difficult to maintain that this relationship has a causal relationship that goes from the first to the second. The reverse is much more likely to be true.