About BGN 300 million more annually, the NHIF pays for reimbursement of medicines. The draft budget for 2025 will be a billion leva more than in 2024. And there is a large increase in the volume of medical activities in hospitals, which is why the NHIF will conduct inspections of the reported activities. This is what Stanimir Mihailov, the manager of the Health Fund, said in an interview with BNR.
Regarding the dirty air in the big cities, he said that Bulgaria is in the first place for cardiovascular diseases and the most patients die from it.
"In March of this year, a decision was made to increase the imbursement of 100% of the National Health Insurance Fund for drugs from group B. The general order represents BGN 330 million per year, which the Fund pays. In this number, the budget of the Treasury will be approximately BGN 32 million, about BGN 50 million additional along with the prescription fee," explained Stanimir Mihailov in the program "Nedelya 150".
Following a court decision, he was reinstated as the manager of the NHIF and said that there was political interference.
"I really want the NHIF not to be the subject of political and pre-election discussions, but unfortunately it is not. It is obvious that there is such an element, but in the end we also have a decision of the Supreme Court, which reinstated me", he shared.
Now he is quickly entering the work of the NHIF, because he has a lot of problems to solve – deficit after the court overturned the right of the Fund to refuse to pay hospitals over-the-limit activity.
"I will have to react "athok". The 2024 budget has 2 challenges – the smaller is the additional funds to cover the reimbursement, not foreseen initially in the preparation of the budget, and subsequently adopted unanimously. The other is the reported additional costs for performed and reported medical care. After the SC's decision, we did an analysis and reported hospital care on average jumped by 6%. We do not have an unequivocal answer to what accounts for the increased medical care being reported. We need to clarify the reasons, and they can be purely medical and possibly false hospitalizations somewhere. We have alerts, but we have to check the facts. What is expected is to make calculations and analyzes of reported activity, and make forecasts for additional costs by the end of the year", commented the manager of the NHIF.
And he pointed out that for the costs of hospital care, the entire amount for the year should be BGN 3.8 billion, and the pledge is BGN 3.5 billion:
"A difference of BGN 300 million appears, and against them stands the remainder of the treasury reserve and extraordinary revenues that must come from the state budget and insurance. It has been confirmed and it covers these amounts. According to forecast data, this additional activity, called activities with a negative sign, is not provided."
Stanimir Mihailov is adamant that this activity of the hospitals will be checked because it is reported in the Treasury, but according to the mechanism it is determined with a negative sign. "We must be convinced that it has been implemented and accounted for correctly,", he added, and announced that there are two lists in the NHIF.
The manager of the treasury stated that there will be no deficit, "what the treasury has available on budget will be paid and will ensure the payment of all types of medical and health activities and medicines".
"For the moment, a shortage is emerging, but it is a dynamic situation, we hope there will be adjustments in the forecast for additional revenues, we are looking for opportunities from potential savings, so things are dynamic,", he explained.
According to him, new criteria are needed for opening new hospitals, because the issue is not clear-cut, especially in places where there is no hospital. But currently, out of about 52,000 beds for a population of 6 million, only half of the beds are filled.
Currently, the NHIF is working on the financial end of the year and the draft budget for 2025, which must be ready by October 28, agreed with the Ministry of Health, approved by the NC of the NHIF and submitted to the Council of Ministers. And next week the manager of the Treasury will meet with the class organizations that are parties to the process.
Mihailov confirmed that the macro-framework from the Ministry of Finance for the NHIF is for a 13% higher budget in 2025, which is an additional billion BGN for healthcare. And he commented on preventive examinations, as well as that pre-hospital care does not overspend.