The high thresholds for returning to the health insurance system are a barrier to people, because the amount may be too much for some of them, even if they want to. This was commented on by the former Minister of Health, Dr. Stoycho Katsarov from the Center for the Protection of Rights in Health Care, to the Bulgarian National Radio. He warns that 20% of the country's population has interrupted health insurance rights.
"To restore your rights, you must pay all the contributions you owe, along with interest - for the past 5 years. The amount is huge and may be too much for many people. A specific plan with measures in all directions is needed to correct this phenomenon," he specified.
Katsarov emphasized that the number of 1.2 million people is accurate - the NHIF does not pay general practitioners for that many because their rights are suspended.
"According to the NRA, the number is 2.1 million people, but since there is no established methodology for calculating this and how to monitor it - neither in the NRA nor in the NHIF - perhaps this 1 million people more than the NHIF report is due to people who are permanently abroad and have fallen off the lists of general practitioners," explained the former Minister of Health.
The Center recalls that the health insurance rights of citizens who are insured at their own expense are suspended if more than three due monthly contributions have not been paid for a period of 36 months. Restoration of rights is possible upon payment of the due contributions for the last 60 months.
For nearly 60% of the uninsured, the main reason for not being insured is that they are unemployed. Over a quarter of the uninsured have primary, lower or primary education. A significant number are Bulgarian citizens who live or have worked abroad.
The analysis includes a number of proposals, including increasing the insurance culture, measures against the informal economy, refining data and completing the health reform.
According to Dr. Stoycho Katsarov, the best option would be to eliminate the NHIF monopoly: "In systems where health insurance is not mandatory - as in the US, the number of people who are not health insured is many times smaller than in our country".