After lengthy and intense debates, the Parliament has finally adopted the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) for 2025, news.bg reports. The total amount of funds amounts to over 9 billion leva. Of which, 4.1 billion leva. are for hospital care, and 2.3 billion leva. - for medicines.
Among the key decisions are changes in the control of hospital costs, as the NHIF proposal to adjust the prices of clinical pathways in case of overspending was rejected and control will be carried out through the National Framework Contract.
For greater transparency, the NHIF manager will prepare monthly and quarterly reports on the implementation of the budget, which will be published online and sent to professional organizations.
The budget provides 5 million leva for medical devices for biomarker diagnostics in oncological diseases, but the proposal to increase the amount to 20 million leva was not accepted.
Another significant change is that antibiotics and medicines for acute conditions for children up to 7 years of age will be fully covered by the NHIF, for which 10 million leva have been set aside. lv.
The list of reimbursed medicines has been expanded, and it now includes six categories of medicinal products, including for oncological diseases, rare diseases and coagulopathy.
In addition, the NHIF will negotiate the payment of medicines for rare and oncological diseases based on the achieved therapeutic results, and in the absence of an effect, the costs will be reimbursed.
The deputies did not accept that private hospitals should conduct public procurements on the model of state medical institutions. The idea of citizens receiving notifications electronically about the performed medical activities was also rejected.
With the adoption of the NHIF budget, a key stage of the financial framework of the healthcare system for 2025 ends.
The deputies continue their work with the presentation of the report on the State Budget at second reading.