site.btaPresident Radev Returns Changes to Health Insurance Act to Parliament for Further Discussion

President Rumen Radev is returning provisions of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Health Insurance Act to the National Assembly for further discussion, the Head of State's press office said on Thursday.

In his motives, Radev states that he supports legal measures aimed at the most efficient distribution of public finances in the field of medical care, but considers that the amendments create preconditions for restricting the constitutional rights of Bulgarian citizens.

The amendments to Article 59 of the Health Insurance Act lead to the restoration of limits in the provision of medical care. This is a measure which is not only unlikely to lead to the full realization of the legislator's stated objective of better planning and spending of NHIF funds, but also constitutes an unjustified interference in the principles of health insurance. The changes create a potential opportunity to restrict the access of insured persons to medical care provided by a medical institution of their choice when patients need it.

The texts adopted by the National Assembly are disturbingly reminiscent of an already declared unconstitutional provision introducing a ban for the NHIF to pay for medical care provided by medical institutions if it is in violation of the volumes and values specified in their contracts. In this way, insured persons are placed in a precarious position in terms of being able to receive treatment at the medical facility they have chosen, regardless of whether there would be an actual prohibition on payment. In the President's view, it is this situation that is contrary to Article 52(1) and (2) of the Constitution.

The President points out that the text in question was adopted without the necessary publicity and without the possibility of an adequate reaction from the persons concerned.