27.01.2025
HOW AND WHERE CAN YOU GET INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE RIGHTS
You have lost your blue health insurance card. You want to change your GP. You need information about how long your referral is valid and how many examinations you are entitled to with it.
What to do if you do not know the answers?
Call 0800 14 800
This is the National Health Insurance Fund's Green Phone number.
It is free of charge and can be dialed from both landlines and mobile phones, regardless of whether you are in Bulgaria or abroad. Calls are entirely at the expense of the NHIF.
The Information Center has existed since the establishment of the NHIF. Every day, within 5 minutes, four trained experts answer questions from citizens. They are familiar with any new information, change in law or regulation that concerns the work of the Health Fund. The information you receive from them is as up-to-date as possible and in line with the latest changes.
You can contact them every working day from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The experts receive approximately 1,200 calls daily.
What are the most frequently asked questions on the toll-free number 0800 14 800 in the last month?
How do I change my general practitioner?
There are regulated deadlines for this. If you have found a better colleague of your previous doctor, you can sign up with him every year within the regulated deadlines - from June 1 to 30 and from December 1 to 31.
However, if you move to another settlement during the year, you do not need to comply with these deadlines. The change can be made at any time of the year, as you must present the new doctor with a form for changing your general practitioner (registration form for permanent selection of a general practitioner https://www.nhif.bg/bg/people/request_opl/). The old doctor does not need to be informed about this change.
Regardless of the deadlines, you can also register with another general practitioner in cases of your inability to provide medical care (death, illness). Again, a permanent choice form is required (registration form for permanent choice of a general practitioner https://www.nhif.bg/bg/people/request_opl/). You will also need this form if the NHIF terminates the contract with your general practitioner.
You can also change your general practitioner temporarily. This is done in cases where citizens move to another settlement for a period of up to 5 months. This time, the change is made with a registration form for a temporary change (https://www.nhif.bg/bg/people/request_opl/). It indicates the period for which the services of the new doctor are needed, and after the period expires, the return to the old doctor is automatic.
How is a health insurance (blue) card issued, which is required for dental work?
The first card is free of charge. It is issued by the RHIF at the discretion of a general practitioner or a division of the relevant health insurance fund. You must present your ID card or, if you are a parent, the child's birth certificate.
If your health insurance card is full, you can contact the RHIF or its division again, where you will be issued an addendum. The service is also free of charge.
In cases where the health insurance card is lost, however, you can only go to the RHIF at the discretion of a general practitioner (without RHIF divisions). This service is paid. The new card will cost you 7.44 leva.
We remind you that from 2024, if you need to visit a general practitioner who has concluded a contract with the NHIF in another locality, for incidental medical care, you do not need to provide him with your health insurance (blue) book.
What is the validity period of the referrals?
This period is 30 calendar days from the date of issue. It applies to both a specialist examination, examinations, and hospitalization.
From 01.07.2024, the only exception is the "medical referral for medical-diagnostic activities (MH-NHIF form No. 4) for highly specialized medical-diagnostic examinations "mammography of both mammary glands" and "ultrasound of the mammary glands" from the "Imaging Diagnostics" package on the occasion of a preventive examination of health-insured persons over 18 years of age. This referral is valid for up to 60 calendar days from the date of issue.
What is the validity of the protocols and what is their movement?
From the beginning of September 2024, every health insured person who receives medicines or medical devices under a protocol is notified by a message in VIBER or SMS about the movement of their protocol.
We remind you that when issuing the protocol, it would be a good idea to request its number and thus track its movement yourself on the official NHIF website in the electronic services section https://reports.nhif.bg//
Can citizens who prefer online communication receive answers to their questions from the NHIF?
Yes. You can do so in the "Online consultations" section. The deadline for answering questions is up to 5 working days. It is possible to receive it within the day, but this is not mandatory, given the large number of incoming inquiries.
At the beginning of the school year, parents are most active with questions about their children's examinations, student records, vaccines and apology notes.
The answers in the "Online consultations" section do not follow the order of submission of the questions. They are published on the page only on working days. It is advisable for users to search for them by the date on which they sent their inquiry.
And for submitting signals and complaints with accompanying documentation, you can use the e-mail address: nzok@nhif.bg.
Attention! Some of the questions, both on 0800 14 800 and in the online form of the NHIF, may relate to your health, but may be within the competence of other institutions. We remind you of some of the most important ones, which could also be useful to you:
- Ministry of Health (MH) - questions related to problems in providing emergency medical care, with the procedure for conducting an expert examination of work capacity by the bodies of the Medical Advisory Committee, TEMC/NEMC;
- National Revenue Agency (NRA) - questions regarding health insurance status (what is the procedure for paying health insurance contributions and what are the amounts due, including the manner in which health insurance rights can be restored);
- National Social Security Institute (NSSI) - questions related to the procedure for issuing sick leaves and the payment of cash benefits for them;
- Ministry of Labor and Social Policy - issues related to the right to receive disability pensions due to a general illness.
