CONTEMPORARY SITUATION OF THE BULGARIAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

Petko Miran

Abstract


During the past 20 years, the Bulgarian healthcare system (BHS) changed dramatically. The resulting situation is of dubious nature and suffers the criticism of all the interested parties: patients and medical representatives, as well as the foreign bodies.

The GOAL is to estimate the efficiency of the money spent in the BHS and to analyze the system from the provision of fundamental economic principles for a stable market.

The METHODS used in the research paper, include statistical data analyses, analysis of the criticism on the BHS, analysis of the hypothesis considering the connection between money increase and better health results, and analysis of the violation of fundamental economic provisions by the BHS which are obligatory for a market to function properly, to be stable and predictive.

The RESULTS of the research show that the BHS needs substantial reconstruction.

In CONCLUSION, the BHS has undergone many radical changes for the past 20 years, many of which of dubious nature and with suspicious “positive” results. Regardless of any increase in the National Health Insurance Fund budget, the money is never enough, which raises a lot of questions, especially concerning the inpatient treatment, the private hospitals investments and funding, and the money spent on pharmaceutical products.


Keywords


Bulgarian healthcare system; National health and insurance fund; Revenue and Expenditure; GDP; Inflation rate; Market failure; Population; Outpatient; Inpatient; Health insurance contribution; Asymmetric information; Marginal utility of money

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