Registering my S1

@Kath948381   hi kath do you have the paperwork from the uk, if so you take it along with your passport and residency card, just in case they ask for it, to where your health registration office is. Sorry I don't know your area. We are lucky in dobrich as the lady speaks English. We just handed over the paperwork, she went away, came back and gave us the form she had registered. I wrote a small number 1 on the corner. That is the original you need to do lots of copies of this. You must keep the original,  never give it to anyone. Register this form with your g.p. and give him a copy of it

When ever you need medical treatment you will need to hand over a copy

Thank you Pay, I live in the Burgas area and have a good idea where to go to register.  So it's residency card, passport and form with the covering letter. I did this on line but was able to collect the letter that was sent to me from the UK at my village post office. While I was still in the UK I managed to get a few copies made from the online one but I don't have any means of making a copy here in Bulgaria. Thank you again.

Pay? Pat

You'll also need to get a Personal Health Card (здравна книжка) which contains details of your entitlement to health care, past treatment etc (you can buy a blank one from most stationery shops/bookshops and then get your GP to fill in the necessary details).

Your GP can also organise an electronic prescription for regular medication/medical supplies etc.

I don't have a Bulgarian GP as yet Jimj but I'll get one of these cardsas soln as I'm registered.

    I don't have a Bulgarian GP as yet Jimj but I'll get one of these cardsas soln as I'm registered.
   

    -@Kath948381

I assume you're aware of it, but just in case - you're unlikely to get free medicines here, so be prepared for a nice monthly expenditure if the aches and pains of advancing age start to get more serious...

@Kath948381

Pyjamas 😂

And hand knitted woollen bed socks

Well I had to get a bus from the village into the city of Burgas yesterday and I realised that I have no idea where the office is in the city where I can register my S1 card.Could someone tell me where the office is in Burgas please?

Meanwhile I'm aware that my mediations cost me here in the village chemist. I take three meds, if I had to pay for them in the UK they would cost over 9 pounds per item, here in the village I pay 20lev for all three.

@Kath948381

I'm a bit confused here: you're asking where to register your S1, which suggests that you're a UK pensioner, but then you say that in the UK you have to pay £9 an item for your prescription meds.  I'm a bit out of touch with the ins and outs of the UK NHS these days, but those two things don't seem to go together - OAPs get free meds on the NHS, do they not?

Sorry I confused you Jimj what I meant to say was that if I wasn't a UK  pensioner , I'd have to pay over nine pounds an item there. Many years ago I'd have to ask the chemist what items on my prescription I could either do without or buy cheaper because of the costs, thankfully I'm not in that situation anymore.

@Kath948381

I am assuming you already have your S1 document from the UK, if not you will need to contact them

first port of call is the NRA office.

Burgas Center, ul. "Tsar Peter" 5, 8000 Burgas

They will check if you need to pay any further subscriptions, they will give you a document to take to the Regional Health Insurance Office

Районна здравноосигурителна каса Burgas, Парк Езерото, 8000 Burgas

This office will start the process of registration of your s1 with the UK.

Once completed they will give you a document that you will use whenever you require treatment, Make lots of copies. keep the original safe.

Give one copy to your GP. Your GP should make copies themselves and use one whenever you visit.

My wife always carries copies with her and also I have it on my phone so I can mail it if required.

Good luck

Roy

I noticed earlier you stated you can not make copies.

In town look for a xerox sign ( ксерокс ) they can make copies for you.

If you have a friend  (or put a shout out in a forum) get the form scanned so you can also keep a digital copy. (whoever scans it can e mail it to you you can then save it where ever you want, and be able to retrieve it digitally if you need it and do not have a copy on you)

@JimJ

Hi Jim although for this thread its pensioners that are being talked about, just to share if someone is working in the EU for a UK company they too are entitled to an S1

Thank you Roy, any chance that you know the location of the addresses you provided? Because I'm an old Biddie, so are they near a particular hotel or in the sea gardens or something along those lines? Fingers crossed you do.

@Kath948381

Regional Health Insurance Office

Районна здравноосигурителна каса

Is at the sea gardens area near where the sand sculptures are and very near the sport complex, Спортен Комплекс Диалог 359 Арена

NAP is opposite the Burgas city hall.

If you get stuck what I do sometimes is write what or where I want to go get near there and then jump in a taxi

@Kath948381

There are many places to get photo copies..in Pomorie where I live..next to the post office is one

I use it a lot.

@Kath948381

I went to register a few years ago..they said I couldn't keep my NHS..one or the other...I declined.as my UK one is more important..so beware.

@wtruckyboy

when you become a pensioner you automatically qualify for UK national health too, inso much that you can have a Uk EHIC for travel to other EU countries. ( the GHIC has replaced the EHIC but s1 holders still get a EHIC).

.

If for any reason you have to return to the UK you immediately qualify for NHS cover and do not have to wait the 3 months like non-pensioners do who are in the Bulgarian NHIF

Good to know Roy thank you

@roywebb58 Nowadays you can scan from your phone. My boss taught me how to do it, and I do it this way now.

When it comes to " tech" I'm still banging the rocks together , to quote a well known book.

@sogy

Very useful to know.

Would use this in a situation where I can not have the document as I prefer to scan using my printer at home.

But thanks for sharing the info

I take three meds, if I had to pay for them in the UK they would cost over 9 pounds per item, here in the village I pay 20lev for all three.
   

    -@Kath948381

Another Bulgarian bargain!

     I take three meds, if I had to pay for them in the UK they would cost over 9 pounds per item, here in the village I pay 20lev for all three.        -@Kath948381

Another Bulgarian bargain!
   

    -@gwynj

Not if you're a UK pensioner who'd get them for nowt back home - not to mention that some meds cost a fortune wherever you might live....gotta keep Big Pharma in business!

I think I read that Bulgaria has a system similar to Australia - you pay the list cost for medications, but there's a cap. Big Pharma still gets its money, but over a certain amount the government pays. Probably in Bulgaria prescribers stick to the original cheaper generic meds, too, rather than using the latest $$$ still-under-patent variant.

Mum is having this problem in Australia. The cost isn't the issue because the government pays. but she wants to stay on her original medications, which happen to be very inexpensive ones, $3 a month level. Her cardiologist insists she MUST be on the new gee-whiz meds at $300 a month, because they're so much better. Except she has way more side effects and was fine on the old ones.

Anyway, I don't want to derail this to a Big Pharma discussion! Without the money they spend on R&D and need to recoup, a lot of very useful meds wouldn't exist. But they also seem to spend a lot of time slightly altering existing meds so they can charge a higher price.

I've had my husband who's looking after his elderly Mum in the UK send me pictures of his Bulgarian residency card in the hope that he'll be included in the benefits of my S1 , he's younger than me so not a pensioner but I did hear something about spouses being included.

@Kath948381

They CAN be included as a "dependent spouse" - which doesn't mean literally dependent.  However, it varies according to the regulations of the individual country; you'll have to enquire at your local NHIF office.

@Kath948381

you first need to contact S1 oversea to add your husband on your S1, they will ask you his details then send you his S1 certificate. Once he has his S1 certificate, he just needs to visit the two places that you have been to register himself into the BG health system.

Side note… in my region, spouse’s S1 certificate is recognised, but we heard cases from other regions that only pensioner’s S1 is valid for registration…

@Kath948381

When you apply for your S1 you let them know you have a dependent and give them the details.

You will receive a form from the UK with your details and all dependents on it

You then follow the registration process