Bulgarian health insurance

@michelesussexyoga

I suggest you take a look at 24ins (dot bg) an online insurance broker.

Do you want insurance for immigration purposes? Or proper private medical insurance?

Also, have you enrolled, or can you enroll, in Bulgaria's public health system?

How can we enroll the Bulgaria's public health system if we are not working but living permenantly here in Bulgaira? Is ther ean easy way to do this? Or we should find an English speaking accountant for that?

Thank you in advance for any clarifications.

@oguzc

When you say "living permanently" here, do you mean that you already have your Bulgarian Permanent Residence card (valid for 10 years)?

This is a big deal because Bulgaria excludes non-EU citizens who are "economically inactive" from accessing the social security system (and hence public healthcare). And it can no longer discriminate in this way once you obtain your PR.

If you've got your PR, then go immediately to your nearest NAP/NRA office, and register to make social security contributions as "unemployed", currently just under 40 lev per month (per person).

If you've been here less than 5 years, then you don't yet have your PR. In this case, you can either wait patiently for your PR, then register. Or, you can do some work here (either as an employee or self-employed), as this allows you to register immediately. (After a few months of making contributions, you can stop, and at that point you should be able to change your status to "unemployed".)

Dear gwynj,

Thank you for your prompt reply. Yes I do have permanent residency card since 4 years. We've been living in BG since 2,5 years already with my BG citizen wife.  I had also located nearest NRA office in my city too. But I dont know Bulgarian and filling the forms are incredibly hard for us.

That was the reason we are searching for help to do that.

@oguzc

Great news that you have your PR. I think you could even have done this before your PR, as you have a Bulgarian wife.

NRA (and other government offices) can be a challenge for foreigners. You should take your wife with you as I guess she speaks/writes Bulgarian. I have a local registered interpreter/translator I take with me. He charges 50 lv per hour, and it makes bureaucracy much smoother (he does all the talking, and he fills in the forms). I don't know where you're based, but there are notary offices in most towns, and normally there are translators nearby too.

This particular task doesn't have many forms anyway. You kinda have to activate your LC number for contributions... and then declare that you're not employed.... and then pay them some money. To be covered in the system immediately, you need to pay 3 o 4 months I think. If I go there, I just pay the year so I can forget about it.

While there you should ask about a PIN so you can get online access. Then you can (a) check you're fully covered at this moment, and (b) you can make payments.

Once you're covered, you can go register with a local GP, and get free or nearly-free healthcare. You can also go to DSK and ask for your EHIC (if you travel in EU).