Assessing Access to Healthcare in Bulgaria

Abstract

Assessing access to healthcare in a given country remains a challenging endeavor. Despite the frequent use of access as a dimension of the health system performance assessment frameworks, there is no agreed-upon set of indicators to evaluate it. This study aims to assess the access to healthcare in Bulgaria. The assessment is based on a set of the most commonly used indicators with publicly available data. Results show that timeliness and physical availability are not substantial barriers for obtaining health services in Bulgaria, as the values for most of the considered indicators are better than the EU average. The most significant barrier to access to healthcare in Bulgaria is the financial affordability. Data shows insufficient financial protection alongside other factors resulting in higher than the EU average level of unmet needs due to financial reasons. Policy measures focused on decreasing the share of private health expenditures ought to be exerted to reduce inequalities in access to healthcare services.