Bulgarian Doctors Busted for Draining Health Insurance Fund

A doctors' scam with fake diagnoses has cost the Health Inurance Fund between BGN 2 000 and 5 000 per patient. File photo

The Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS), the police in the northern city of Lovech, and the Regional Prosecutor's Office have busted a doctors' scam to drain money from the National Health Insurance Fund (NZOK).

The news was reported Monday by the Interior Ministry, saying the joint operation has found and seized envelopes, filled with cash, having names of different doctors on them.

About BGN 52 000 and documentation from specialized medical labs in Lovech, Sofia, and the cardiology hospital in the Black Sea city of Varna have been confiscated along with the envelopes.

A pre-trail procedure, against an unknown perpetrator has been launched.

The authorities are also probing the Regional Health Insurance Fund (RZOK) in the northeastern city of Razgrad, the Bulgarian daily "Trud" (Labor) writes and there are several versions about the exact scam used to drain money with the main one being that people from Razgrad, without any health complaints, have been bused to Lovech where doctors gave them fake diagnoses.

The doctors received cash if they directed patients to the private cardiology clinic in Lovech. The same scam was used in Veliko Tarnovo and Varna.

The patients taking part in the scam were recruited from doctors with large practices or from those treating minorities.

One such "fake" patient has cost NZOK anywhere between BGN 2 000 and 5 000.

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