The much expected option for negotiating discounts for drugs paid by National Health Insurance Fund is going to fail, said Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Desislava Dimitrova. A discussion forum Drug Policy – Partnership for Health Mrs. Dimitrova said that over 100 companies have not turned up to negotiate with the management of the fund, although they initially agreed to reduce their prices. The manager of the NHIF Dr. Plamen Tsekov blamed for the embarrassing situation the now existing methodology and the existence of reference prices due to which these companies could not be forced to sit at the negotiating table. According to him, for suppliers who value their reputation it would be very offensive to refuse to negotiate with the public fund, because thus they state they don’t want to be a partner.
The health insurance fund obviously mull over retaliation after Mr. Tsekov pointed out that for 1,661 drugs, for which the Fund pays are probably too many. It may be that a review of the reimbursement list is pendant, and some duplicated items may be removed. Other mechanisms for negotiation will be discussed, including the treatment of diagnosis. If the scheme is approved, in the future the health fund will buy discounted packages of medication for the entire volume of patients treated for a certain diagnosis, rather than individual drugs. Positive effects of such changes, however, may be felt only by big manufacturers and distributors, and this will increase their share in the supplies for the Fund.
For its part, the Secretary of the Bulgarian Medical Association, Dr. Dimitar Lenkov, noted that the allocation of funds for healthcare is wrong. If the state does not have enough money to pay more on prevention, the funds will actually go on medical treatment. According to BMA, the funds for medicines are huge as a percentage because they are equal to the budget for hospital care. More money needs to be focused on outpatient care, early detection of disease and timely treatment, representatives of the Professional Association think. In Bulgaria, a very large number of original products for treatment of citizens have been approved and generics form too small a share. In other countries, lower expenditures achieve a better effect, added Mr. Lenkov.
