Bulgarian pharmacies are screaming that patients might get screwed after the New Year because the National Health Insurance Fund owes them around 60 million leva and keeps ghosting payment deadlines. Evgeni Antonov from the pharmacists group said small shops are getting buried since they front expensive meds on credit, and when distributors stop extending those lines, the whole supply chain collapses. About 1,800 family pharmacies serve as the only med source for tons of communities.
Ivan Dimitrov from the Bulgarian Patients Forum called it a complete trainwreck and said the fund basically acts as the Finance Ministry's lapdog while chronically sick people get hung out to dry. He mentioned treatments running anywhere from 2,000 to 50,000 leva that patients can't access, and warned sick Bulgarians might bail to other European countries where healthcare systems actually function.
Ivan Dimitrov from the Bulgarian Patients Forum called it a complete trainwreck and said the fund basically acts as the Finance Ministry's lapdog while chronically sick people get hung out to dry. He mentioned treatments running anywhere from 2,000 to 50,000 leva that patients can't access, and warned sick Bulgarians might bail to other European countries where healthcare systems actually function.
