The Bulgarian National Health Insurance Fund is nationalized. It is politically controlled and not independent. This was stated in the program "ReVizia" on NOVA NEWS by the former Minister of Health, Prof. Hristo Hinkov.
According to him, this happened gradually, although it was not created in this way. "Its idea is to work with public resources, but also to be independent, in order to guarantee a fair and adequate, effective healthcare system. This is not the case today," he said
According to him, this is not the only problem of the Bulgarian healthcare system, but it is part of it and must be solved. He admits that the system is underfunded, but also says that an increase in contributions cannot be requested at the moment, because the state cannot guarantee that they will be spent according to the goals of healthcare. When this happens, one can think about increasing the contribution, which is among the lowest in Europe.
Professor Hinkov also touched on the issues of too many hospitalizations in the system, which seem unrealistic. And this is a matter of control, he said, but emphasized that it is not being carried out.