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Where is our money for health? |
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 For the first time since it was created in 2000 NHIF has not paid to the doctors within the lawful deadline. Only just today and after the warning of the medical and dentists' associations that they will stop the free service to patients the minister of finance transferred to NHIF 140 million leva.
There is no information about what the reasons are for the delay of payments besides the traditional in such cases explanations about the crisis and the bad inheritance. It is probably so but yet I think that the authorities owe us an explanation of some circumstances. According to the Law on the budget of NHIF for 2009 there is a provision for expenses a little over 2 billion leva. Until the end of October when the last report on the fulfilment of the budget was announced the accomplished expenses do not exceed the planned in the budget.
On 05.10.2009 the GB of NHIF took a decision to unblock 140 million from its reserve. According to the law in this reserve there is another 100 million for unforeseen expenses that can also be unblocked with a decision of the Governing board but they have not been unblocked or at leases it has not been officially announced so. Furthermore the budget for 2009 was accepted with a surplus of another 400 million leva. I.e if it is true that the fulfilment of the incomes had been going according to plan till the end of October and there had not occurred a catastrophe about which we did not hear in November and December , NHIF should not have any problem to pay all bills for 2009 including for the month of December.
In practice however the money for November and December are paid from the budget for 2010.
If we take as a basis the average monthly expenditure of around 160 million leva and subtract from them the transferred before the New Year to the hospitals 30 million it turns out that instead of 2 billion leva NHIF paid in 2009 a little over 1.7 billion leva. Logical and absolutely justified is the question where have gone 300 million from our health contributions?
Even though the authorities refuse any information one thing is sure - a lack of money from health contributions is not the reason for the delayed payments on the part of NHIF. The government has stopped the payments to doctors at the expense of others and it use the income from health contributions in order to 'balance' the budget for 2010. If that is really so then the government has violated at least the Law on the budget of NHIF for 2009 but also the Law on health insurance.
We as health insured persons would like to know how come the government allows itself to break the laws? We would also like to know where is the money collected from our health contributions? That is our own money. We got used to not being asked but we still hope that we have the right to be at least informed how and for what the money is spent. |
петък, 03 септември 2010
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