Parliament Adopted to Lift Moratorium on New Medicines

Bulgaria’s Parliament unanimously adopted the removal of the moratorium on the reimbursement of innovative medicines by the National Health Insurance Fund in 2018. The moratorium was lifted by voting at first and second reading of the Bill amending the NHIF Budget Act for 2018. The bill was submitted with the signatures of the Chairs of all parliamentary groups.

MPs voted to repeal paragraph 6 of the Transitional and Final Provisions, which stated that in 2018 the NHIF would not pay for medicinal products with a new international non-patented name for which an application for inclusion in the positive list of medicinal products was submitted and medicinal products included in the positive list that are subject to payment for the first time in 2018.

The motive to lift the moratorium is to ensure confidence among citizens that the NHIF will pay for all medicinal products with a new international non-patented name in 2018.

According to the opposition BSP, parliamentarianism is restored with the lifting of this moratorium. BSP leader, Kornelia Ninova urged GERB to acknowledge their mistake and learn a lesson from it.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov, the chair of GERB’s parliamentary group, thanked for the consensus reached and explained that the aim of the moratorium was to stop the leakage of funds from the health insurance fund and was not to deprive patients of medicines.

We have taken an approach to create a better order but in no case be at the expense of cancer patients or anyone in need of treatment, he said.

The MRF has also called for lessons to be learned and not to repeat cases of adopting unconstitutional texts.

President Roumen Radev welcomed the change in the approach and the abolition of the ban on payment for certain medicinal products from the NHIF budget in 2018, a press release from the press service of the head of state said.

Radev calls on all parliamentary groups to continue to take into account ethical considerations and act in the interests of constitutional rights of citizens and social justice.