site.btaPresident Vetoes Texts of NHIF Budget for 2018

Sofia, December 8 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev imposed a veto on paragraph 6 of the Transitional and Final Provisions of the 2018 National Health Insurance Fund Act under which the NHIF will not reimburse any medicinal products with a new International Nonproprietary Name whose inclusion in the Positive Drug List has been applied for or any such medicines which will be reimbursable for the first time in 2018, the President's Press Secretariat said. The Positive Drug List comprises all medicines used in State-financed health facilities and programmes or covered in whole or in part by the NHIF.

According to the head of State, the challenged texts create different treatment of the insured persons and affect a major constitutional right guaranteeing accessible medical care to the citizens. "The limited financial resource for healthcare requires optimization of the distribution, spending and control of the available funds. This, however, cannot be at the expense of the citizens' constitutional rights and social justice," the President says in his reasoning.