site.btaLv 133 Mln of Money Owed by National Health Insurance Fund to Foreign Health Insurance Funds Are Overdue,Urgent Check Finds

Sofia, February 26 (BTA) - An urgent check ordered last week found that the overdue amounts that Bulgaria's National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) owes to foreign health funds total 133 million leva, of which 73 million are up for payment this year, Deputy Health Minister and NHIF Supervisory Board Chair Jeni Nacheva told journalists on Monday.

The NHIF's total debt to these funds is 271 million leva.

The check was ordered after NHIF Director Kamen Plochev claimed that of the 271 million leva that the Fund owed in early 2018 for treatment of Bulgarian citizens in the EU, 207 million leva were overdue. Nacheva then countered that the overdue reimbursements to foreign health insurance funds were 7.6 million leva by January 31, 2018. On February 23, the NHIF published information, requested by the Bulgarian Medical Association and the Finance Ministry, according to which the NHIF owed health funds in 32 countries 271,200,475 leva, of which 133,404,340 leva were overdue. Until the end of this year, the NHIF has to pay foreign health funds 73,448,844 leva excluding interest.

"The divergent data, circumstances and facts made public some days ago were due to systematic breaches of internal regulations by a series of operational managements," Nacheva explained. "We gave the NHIF Director until March 10 to propose repayment schedules for the States that have lodged claims. The type of diagnoses for which Bulgarian nationals seek treatment abroad will be analyzed shortly so as to make in-depth assessments of the reasons for their treatment abroad," she said. In her opinion, the problem emerged in 2015-2016. "Administrative sanctions will be imposed on proposals that are expected from the NHIF Director," she added.

Nacheva was adamant that these figures will not stand in the way of signing the 2018 National Framework Agreement and that there are no plans to modify the parameters agreed in it.

She is confident that an update of the NHIF budget is not necessary for the time being.

On February 16, Health Minister Kiril Ananiev demanded the resignation of NHIF Director Kamen Plochev after the latter asked the National Assembly to increase the NHIF budget by 140 million leva over the head of the Fund's Supervisory Board.