Bulgarian President Radev vetoes amendments to Medical Insurance Act
Bulgarian President Roumen Radev said on July 24 that he vetoed parts of the bill to amend the Medical Insurance Act, passed by the National Assembly earlier this month.
In his motives, Radev said that he welcomed the bill’s stated goal of more efficient use of taxpayer money for health care, but argued that it could restrict patients’ access to medical assistance.
Specifically, the provision that sets limits on health care providers not to exceed the extent of their annual contracts with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) could potentially restrict patients’ constitutional right to health care, Radev said.
Radev cited a Constitutional Court ruling from 2023, which scrapped a similar provision banning NHIF from paying health care providers for services rendered over the value of the respective provider’s annual contract with NHIF.
He said that the way that this specific provision was tabled between readings, outside the initial scope of the bill and effectively preventing the possibility of public feedback, was also against Parliament’s own rules.
Bulgaria’s constitution grants the head of state a limited power of veto, through enabling the President to return legislation to the National Assembly for further discussion.
The National Assembly may overturn the President’s veto through a simple majority vote or accept the veto and review the vetoed clauses. Since taking office in January 2017, Radev made liberal use of the power and this was his 39th vetoed bill.
The National Assembly overturned the veto on all but eight occasions – seven times the veto was accepted by MPs and, in the other case, the government coalition at the time failed to muster the support needed to overturn it.
(Photo: president.bg)
Please support independent journalism by clicking on the button below. For as little as three euro a month or the equivalent in other currencies, you can support The Sofia Globe via patreon.com and get access to exclusive subscriber-only content:
