Headline:
Bulgaria‘s National Health Insurance Fund Chief Sounds Alarm on Overspending, Fraud
Subhead:
Stanimir Mihaylov reveals increases in expensive medical procedures, suspends suspicions of information leaks.
In a recent interview with "This Morning," Stanimir Mihaylov, the newly reinstated head of Bulgaria’s National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), expressed concern over rapidly escalating healthcare costs. Mihaylov, who resumed his post two months ago, found the fund’s expenditure had ballooned to 104 million BGN.
Explaining the surge, Mihaylov pointed to a stark increase in reported healthcare activity following a Constitutional Court decision. While the number of hospitalizations has risen significantly—an average of 9.6%—there’s been no corresponding increase in reported illnesses, epidemics, or population growth. Mihaylov suggests that this may indicate manipulation of clinical pathways, with patients being funneled toward more expensive treatments.
"Substantially, this means the NHIF is being drained," Mihaylov warned. He also announced that fraud exceeding 500,000 BGN has been discovered in several regional healthcare funds, with the capital, Pловdiv, and Blagoevgrad seeing the most significant violations. Mihaylov suspects that there may be leaks within the system tipping off hospitals about upcoming NHIF audits.
Looking ahead, Mihaylov emphasized the crucial importance of ensuring adequate healthcare funding in the 2025 budget.
