Balgarianovinite.com The Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee adopted at second reading on Wednesday the draft budgets of Public Social Insurance and of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) for 2026. Among those present at the sitting were Minister of Health Silvi Kirilov and NHIF Governor Petko Stefanovski.
The sitting began with tension between Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) MP Assen Vassilev and the committee chair, GERB-UDF MP Delyan Dobrev. The conflict arose because the sitting started early, at 12:15 p.m., although it had been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Vassilev insisted that the committee wait until the announced time and blocked its work until then.
During the discussion on the Public Social Insurance budget, the committee rejected various proposals submitted between first and second reading by CC-DB and Vazrazhdane MPs which would have cancelled the 2 percentage point increase in social insurance contributions from 2026. Vassilev argued that the government was increasing the social insurance burden at a time when all administrative prices in the country were going up, calling this an extremely wrong policy.
CC-DB MP Martin Dimitrov added that by raising social insurance contributions, the maximum insurable income and some taxes, the government was giving up its competitive advantage. In his words, the rise in public debt and record expenditure as a share of gross domestic product, which exceeds 40%, pointed to further tax hikes in the future.
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning MP Yordan Tsonev responded that the increase in social insurance contributions came after years of pension rises, which he described as a fair move, but said the system now needed to be balanced. He noted that the average pension had doubled compared to 2020, reaching BGN 883 in 2024, while transfers from the central budget to cover the pension expenditure gap had more than doubled to BGN 12.1 billion this year.
Several specific proposals related to social insurance were also turned down. A CC-DB proposal to raise the childcare benefit for children up to 2 years of age to 100% of the statutory amount in cases where the mother returns to work, instead of the 75% provided for in the draft law, was not backed by the committee. A CC-DB proposal to increase the ceiling on unemployment benefits likewise failed to win support, as did another proposal from the same parliamentary group to reduce the planned increase in the maximum insurable income. A proposal by the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF) to leave unchanged the minimum insurable income for self-insured persons was also rejected. The committee further turned down a proposal by the MECh parliamentary group for all pensioners to receive a one-off Christmas payment of BGN 150 (EUR 76.7).
The committee also approved at second reading the draft budget of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) for 2026. CC-DB MP Vasil Pandov pointed out that the proposals between the first and second reading did not in any way address one of the main problems of the health insurance system – the significant imbalance between funding for outpatient and hospital care. He stated that this budget further undermined medical logic, as costly hospital treatment continued to be overfunded, while prevention, prophylaxis and outpatient care remained under-resourced. He added that Bulgaria continued to be the EU country with the highest share of funding for hospital care and a very low share for pre-hospital care.
The committee approved proposals to amend the NHIF draft budget submitted by ruling majority MPs Kostadin Angelov (GERB), Dragomir Stoynev (Bulgarian Socialist Party – BSP), Pavela Mitova (There Is Such a People – TISP) and Yordan Tsonev (MRF – New Beginning). Under these amendments, the NHIF will make payments of up to EUR 230 million from central budget transfers for the wages of staff at State and municipal hospitals, as well as at specialist hospitals for active treatment under the Ministry of Justice. It was also decided that, funded by a central budget transfer, the NHIF will make monthly transfers to the Ministry of Health budget of up to EUR 30 million a year for the wages of staff at emergency medical care centres, transfusion haematology centres, inpatient psychiatric facilities, centres for complex care for children with disabilities and chronic diseases, homes for medico-social care for children, and State and municipal mental health centres.
The committee also endorsed a proposal submitted by Angelov and other MPs from the ruling majority to set the minimum basic monthly salary at EUR 1,860 for doctors without a specialty, dentists without a specialty, and master pharmacists without a specialty, and at EUR 1,550 for nurses, midwives, paramedics, medical laboratory assistants, X-ray technicians, physiotherapists, assistant pharmacists, and dental technicians. The committee rejected proposals by Vazrazhdane MP Margarita Mahaeva and CC-DB MP Vasil Pandov to link the minimum basic monthly salary for these specialists to a percentage of the country’s average gross wage. Budget and Finance Committee Endorses 2026 Social Insurance and Health Insurance Budgets at Second Reading 2025 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-11-26 21:18:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
