Economic and Social Impact of Healthcare Reforms in Bulgaria

Abstract

With the beginning of the transition to a market economy in Bulgaria, reforms in the healthcare industry also began to take place. Their main goal is related to improving the health status of the population in the country. Three decades later, the implemented reforms do not meet society’s expectations. The main aim of the study is to outline the results of the reforms in the industry over the past ten years, as well as the major economic and social impact they led to. For this purpose, the impact of the reforms in healthcare industry on the efficiency with which it operates, their impact on the health status of the population and on the importance of the industry for the country’s economy are studied. A comparison is made with other EU member states and with the average European levels. The study is built on primary data, provided by Eurostat for the period 2010-2020 in the input-output model in its upgraded version FIGARO. The results of the conducted research show that the implemented reforms lead to positive changes in the industry. However, there are still a number of problems in healthcare in Bulgaria, as the country lags behind average European levels in most of the studied indicators.