site.btaTripartite Council Discusses Health Insurance Fund Budget

Tripartite Council Discusses Health Insurance Fund Budget

Sofia, October 29 (BTA) - The Ministry of Finance and the
partners have estimated that at the end of the current year the
deficit of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) will be
from 30 to 35 million leva, Health Minister Peter Moskov said at
Thursday's meeting of the National Council for Tripartite
Cooperation. The Council was discussing the draft budget of NHIF
for next year. The sum mentioned does not concern the 129
million leva nominal increase of the NHIF budget in the revenue
part, nor will it lead to an increase of expenses for 2016, he
added.

Moskov told journalists at the Council of Ministers that the
draft budget envisages an increase by 4.2 per cent, or 129
million leva. The NHIF Supervisory Board is concerned that this
money will be "eaten" by a current deficit for 2015, he
explained. "I want to ensure the colleagues from the Fund that
the deficit will be covered with other money, and not with these
129 million leva," he underscored.

At end-September NHIF forecasts showed that the worst variant
amounts to 64 million leva deficit for NHIF, but Moskov said
better revenue from health insurance contributions is expected
by the end of November or the beginning of December. As a
result, at least 20 million leva will be at the disposal of the
NHIF Board to implement the policies it decides. In Moskov's
words, although late, part of the control mechanisms established
at legislative level are beginning to operate, and this will
ensure additional reduction of the pessimistic forecast of 64
million leva deficit in the NHIF budget.

The supervising authorities at NHIF are additionally concerned
with the coverage of accumulating obligations to external
partners. A commitment has been undertaken to seek contact with
every one of these institutions. The Board should reconsider
again its request for increasing the NHIF budget for 2016.

Declaring that he is the last person on Earth who would argue
about the need of additional funding for health care, Moskov
said that the real situation should be assessed. The agreed
discounts of medication prices will reflect on the NHIF budget.
Reserves of focused saving of funds will also come from the
introduction of the electronic identification and NHIF cost will
also be reduced through the medication e-trade procedure which
has just been approved, Moskov thinks.

Later in the day, the Health Ministry announced that NHIF's Supervisory Board had approved unanimously the 2016 draft budget.