single payer health care does have a fatal flaw - it can put the system at the whim of fiscally conservative governments, who can devastate it in the form of budget cuts. if you want this system to work, you have to fund it, and the onset of neo-liberalism has led to massive cuts in much of the developed world. i don't know exactly what silvio berlusconi or his successors did to the italian health care system, but i doubt it was beneficial.
it seems like they got swamped. i'm not denying that, and it could happen anywhere.
but, it's also exposing the consequences of a lack of funding, and what happens when you slash health care to balance budgets.