Health insurance

Bulgarian Members of Parliament are to discuss at a first reading the draft budget for 2015 at an extraordinary plenary sitting on Monday.

The private health insurance funds claim hospitals are cashing in for one and the same thing from several places, their prices have "reached monstrous levels and have gotten out of control", reports the BNT public broadcaster.

...

The National Assembly voted to increase the budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NZOK) with further BGN 100 million.

The update of the NZOK's budget for 2014 was approved by the members of Parliament without debates at a second reading.

Lawmakers have approved the allocation of additional BGN 100 M to the budget of Bulgaria's health fund for 2014.

Half of these funds are earmarked for the payment of hospital services, a task for which the National Health Insurance Fund (NZOK) is in charge of making transfers.

The temporary Budget and Finance Committee at Bulgaria's Parliament has approved the allocation of BGN 100 M more to the National Health Insurance Fund (NZOK).

MPs passed the bill overwhelmingly, with 15 voting yes, none against and four abstained.

A bill to overhaul the 2014 budget will be put forward for discussion in the provisional Budget and Finance Committee of BUlgaria's Parliament.

The draft legislation was submitted to the National Assembly after the government adopted its text on Tuesday.

It envisages an increased budget deficit of BGN 2.992 B (3.7 percent of GDP) and a cap of this year's debt worth BGN 4.5 B.

Petar Moskov, Bulgaria's new Health Minister, has vowed to make everything possible to make sure that Bulgarians have electronic medical records, electronic health insurance account, and electronic prescription forms by end-2015.

BELGRADE - The Serbian parliament on Saturday adopted amendments to the law on funding political activities, amendments to the health insurance law, as well as the law on medical documentation and records.

Under the amended law on funding political activities, parties will receive around 30 percent less money from the budget, which will save EUR 3.5 million of state funds.

Planned changes to the system of maternity leave payments, promoted last week by the State Health Insurance Fund, FZOM, called "Speedy Payment of Maternity Leave", will encourage discrimination against women at the workplace, rights activists say.

BELGRADE - Serbia's ministries of justice and health set up a working group tasked with proposing in the first quarter of the next year changes to the health care-related laws that will eliminate systemic corruption in that field.