Health Insirance of the NHIF

@brandon76

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your potential move to Bulgaria!

I believe you're correct: if employed or self-employed (and hold a Bulgarian residence permit) you should be able to register with NHIF and make your contributions. This gets you free (or nearly free) state healthcare, and you can get an EHIC for use elsewhere in the EU.

I am registered in NHIF and I pay as unemployed, which is about 13 euros per month. They are quite protective of this option, I think, so non-EU citizens can't register directly... but if you're ALREADY in the system (because you were employed or self-employed), you can change status later.

In addition, you can get a Health Insurance for Foreigners policy which is an emergency/repatriation policy, and is often (but not always) required by immigration. Alternatively, you might have an EHIC/GHIC from the UK.

Bulgaria has proper private insurance too, like BUPA and such. It's not crazy expensive (but depends on age and pre-existing conditions). If you're registered in NHIF, then this is cheaper, as you're getting "basic" cover via NHIF.

Most private hospitals are in (or work with) the public health system, so they receive the official amount allowed for your particular treatment/surgery, if performed at a public hospital. But you pay the extra direct to the hospital for your private room / VIP treatment. :-) It seems surprisingly affordable, so I only go to my local private hospitals, and I pay the extra from my own pocket.

As you're just exploring Bulgaria right now, I don't think you need to worry about enrolling in NHIF, or buying private insurance just yet. Before you leave the UK, I suggest you grab your GHIC (if you don't already have one, it's free). And maybe consider some kind of multi-trip travel insurance (ideally with 90 days cover, as that's your maximum here). When you arrive, you can get a Health Insurance for Foreigners policy for less than 100 euros (and less than 15 minutes) at any insurance broker. It's better than nothing, and you'll probably need it for immigration anyway.

Thank you for that info, it is a big help.   Can you advise any companies for local private health insurance, like bupa in the uk, that I could look into?   

Many thanks!

Here's a page with some names:

https://baib.bg/en/health-insrurance-companies/

There are some online brokers, so that's a good place to start, as you can ask for a quote. Try bulgariainsurance (dot bg) or 24ins (dot bg). I've bought several policies from 24ins, they seem pretty decent.

Some insurance companies to look at might be Uniqa (dot bg), DZI (dot bg), Euroins (dot bg).

awesome thank you! 

Hello Brandon,

Gwyn has given you some excellent advice and I will add my experience.

Firstly I applied for my 5 year temporary residency at the ministry of internal affairis in Sofia. I did this when the UK was part of the EU so I don know if it works so easily now.

Then I registered with the tax authorities and pay, as Gwyn said, the 26 leva a month.

When you go to a hospital or GP for the first time take a statement from the tax authority to show that you have paid.

The Bulgarian insurance will pay for most of your hospital fees but the private hospitals will always charge something on top.

If you do not have the insurance then you can pay in cash and it is quite chaep until you get to things like cancer treatment which will cost tens of thousands if you do not have insurance.

Mike