site.btaNational Health Insurance Fund to Ask for Lv 400 Mln More in 2015

National Health Insurance Fund to Ask for Lv 400 Mln More in 2015

Sofia, November 7 (BTA) - The National Health Insurance Fund
(NHIF) will ask for a budget increase by 400 million leva in
2015, Toma Tomov, the Podkrepa trade union representative on the
Fund's Supervisory Board, said on Thursday.

If the NHIF budget is updated by 100 million leva now as
proposed, all services provided by the year's end will be paid
for. Tomov added that the NHIF does have this amount on its
account but needs Parliament's approval to use it. The National
Revenue Agency (NRA) is expected to collect between 55 million
and 70 million leva in health insurance contributions over the
annual projection, which will go towards health insurance
payments, NRA Director Boyko Atanassov said.

Originally the NHIF budget was slightly over 2,823 million leva.
In July the NHIF was granted an extra 225 million leva.

The Supervisory Board decided that hospitals would be paid about
27 million leva for expenditures made over the cap in August.

Between 70 and 100 million leva will be needed to start the
restructuring of emergency medical services, Bulgarian Medical
Association President Tsvetan Raychinov said on Thursday. He
recalled that several concepts had been tried but failed to
work. The Association wants emergency medical services to be
regulated either by a special law or by a chapter of the Health
Act.