Hospital care

@brian60william

Welcome to the expat.com forum and good luck with your Bulgaria adventure!

Are you already a Bulgaria resident? If not, the D visa (and subsequent residence permit) process is fairly straightforward for retirees.

You should ask, in the UK, for two things: (a) your EHIC/GHIC is good to have, for emergency treatment internationally, and (b) your S1 form which you must have as it's your certificate of healthcare entitlement.

Useful info here:

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/moving-abroad/planning-your-healthcare/

With your residence permit and your S1 you can get enrolled in the Bulgarian healthcare system (NAP/NRA).

https://nra.bg/wps/portal/nra/nachalo

Being in the public system, and having an S1, entitles you to free (or nearly-free) treatment with doctors and hospitals in the public system.

One of the aspects I particularly like about the Bulgarian system is that most private hospitals and clinics are affiliated with the system, and hence receive the standard public reimbursement for your treatment. And you just pay the difference between that and the cost of your VIP treatment. There are some very fancy private hospitals here, but they're not usually very expensive, so your upgrade costs are likely to be very reasonable.