Balgarianovinite.com Bulgaria’s Parliament on Thursday elected a new deputy governor of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and dismissed the sitting governor and deputy governor.
The vote for Dr Asen Medjidiev as NHIF deputy governor was 147 in favour (Progressive Bulgaria and GERB-UDF) and 58 against (Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), Democratic Bulgaria (DB), Continue the Change, and Vazrazhdane), with no abstentions. Medjidiev will serve until November 30, 2028. He was nominated by Progressive Bulgaria on June 16.
Later in the day, Parliament voted, 193-3 with 2 abstentions, to accept Dr Petko Stefanovski’s resignation as NHIF governor. Prof. Momchil Mavrov was released as NHIF deputy governor, by a vote of 202-0 with no abstentions. Stefanovski and Mavrov resigned on June 10.
The outgoing NHIF leadership were voted out of office without debate.
Debate Remark Sparks Controversy
Addressing the legislature during the plenary debate, Ivaylo Mirchev MP of Democratic Bulgaria alleged that, according to an investigative report, Mavrov and Medjidiev had pressured a former head of the Medical Supervision Executive Agency to increase the number of beds in private hospitals in order to facilitate the misuse of NHIF funds.
Speaking to reporters in Parliament’s lobby, Kalin Stoyanov MP of MRF said that in his speech Mirchev had publicly disclosed classified information and that it was unclear where or how the information had been obtained. Stoyanov argued that Mirchev had referred to the contents of an official report that was not yet available to the National Assembly’s administration, suggesting that this pointed to a leak from the security services. According to the MRF lawmaker, his DB colleague had referred to a document to which he had no legitimate access and questioned how Mirchev could be aware of the contents of reports or investigative materials that had been requested but had not yet reached Parliament.
Stoyanov argued that Mirchev should have been fully aware that divulging classified information is criminalized and should explain how he had obtained the information and why he had chosen to make it public.
Dismissing Stoyanov’s allegations, Mirchev told reporters in the National Assembly that the public has a right to know that billions of euros are being stolen through Bulgaria’s healthcare system.
“We did not come out today to announce whether there has been a leak from SANS [the State Agency for National Security],” Mirchev said. “We came to show that there is a problem in Bulgaria’s healthcare system and that billions of euros are being stolen. If money is indeed being stolen. And that is why we requested this information from SANS, then it must be made public and Bulgarian society has a right to know.”
Commenting on Stoyanov’s claim, Mirchev argued: “It is not important whether I have read the report. What matters is that a large share of the more than EUR 10 billion spent on Bulgarian healthcare is being stolen. The moment this becomes public and people realize that the prosecution service covered it up and that SANS had conducted such investigations, those most affected from Peevski’s party [the MRF] come out in protest. That means only one thing – his interests have been directly affected. Whether there was a leak is a matter for the prosecution to establish.”
DB Deputy Floor Leader Bozhidar Bozhanov said: “The fact that the MRF has become so active is very telling. Both the counter-intelligence services and the prosecution service have indeed been covering up these matters. We are lifting the lid slightly on corruption schemes in the healthcare system and hope that, if there is genuine political will to change the model, that lid will be removed completely.” He added that the information concerned not only Mavrov but also Medjidiev. Democratic Bulgaria expects Medjidiev to be removed from office once all the information has been made public.
“In recent days there have been indications of attempts to suppress a number of SANS investigations related to the healthcare sector,” Bozhanov said. He noted that the newly reappointed SANS chair, Plamen Tonchev, is also implicated. “Since we have indications that these investigations could be buried, making them public is one way to ensure they do not disappear. Bulgarian society deserves to know why the country’s healthcare system performs so poorly,” the DB MP said. New Health Insurance Deputy Head Elected, Previous Governor, Deputy Governor Dismissed 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-07-02 17:05:00 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