29 November 2022
Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva has drafted and put forward before the National Assembly amendments to the Persons with Disabilities Act (PDA) and the Health Act aimed at overcoming the most critical issues persons with disabilities face in relation to the delays in re-examinations by medical expert examination authorities and the inability to exercise their rights which is outside their control. The Ombudsman has also suggested a text to eliminate the discrimination with respect to pensions of war invalids.
Prof. Kovacheva announced the news at the session of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities at the Council of Ministers held today at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy to discuss amendments to the Ordinance on Medical Expert Examinations and the Draft Methodology to Assess the Needs for High-Technology Aids for Persons with Permanent Disabilities, all topics with respect to which the Ombudsman has an active position and opinions.
Prof. Diana Kovacheva sent the specific text to amend the PDA accompanied by respective motivation and an impact assessment to the Speaker of the 48th National Assembly Vezhdi Rashidov and to the members of the Parliamentary Labour, Social and Demographic Policy Committee.
Vasil Dolapchiev, Chair of the Union of the Blind in Bulgaria, issued an immediate positive response insisting that the representatives of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities prepare a support letter for the Ombudsman’s proposal to be submitted to the Parliament within days.
In the motivation, the Ombudsman emphasises that the proposed draft will ensure a possibility to resolve the problems of more than 660,000 vulnerable citizens. Persons with disabilities will have access to the monthly and financial support they are entitled to under Article 70 of the Persons with Disabilities Act until the decision of the Territorial and the National Expert Medical Commissions. It is also envisaged that persons with disabilities will not be held liable for any delays of the competent authorities and will not reimburse funds they have received even in the case of further changes in the type and degree of disability.
“The PDA Final Provisions propose a solution to the problems with the effect of expert decisions in the process of re-examinations and in appeals which overcomes the current difficulties with the interpretation and application of Article 112 (9) (1) and (2) of the Health Act in conjunction with Article 113 (3),” the Ombudsman points out.
Kovacheva emphasises that an express obligation is set out for the National Expert Medical Commission to render a decision on the merits in the event of appeal against expert decisions of Territorial Commissions which will shorten the time for review of case-files, including by making it impossible for the National Expert Medical Commission to remand cases to Territorial Commissions all the time.
“This will pave the way for interested citizens to defend their rights before the court at a later stage,” Prof. Kovacheva is certain.
She also emphasises that to prevent any subjective and incorrect interpretation or application resulting in unfavourable impact on the rights of interested persons, the Additional Provisions of the Health Act set out deadlines which, when expired, will allow for the failure to establish temporary or lasting unfitness for work to be considered a delay.
“It is important to point out that the proposals will not result in an increase in state budget costs because the number of persons with disabilities is relatively the same and predictable. The means necessary for the citizens to benefit from their rights are earmarked in the budget framework and they will be disbursed without interruptions,” the Public Advocate notes.
She also highlights that this will solve the issue with the incorrect distribution of title-holders and the amount of the monthly financial support under Article 70 of the Persons with Disabilities Act.
“Persons with disabilities of more than 90% who are entitled to support and who receive a pension for war invalidity are missing from the express listing in Article 70 (4) and (5). They are included in item (3) and they only receive 25% of the poverty line. It is a matter of approximately 160 war invalids and their number is decreasing with every year. They receive a pension for war invalidity which is close to the amount of the social pension for invalidity and they are underpaid more than 130 levs every month,” Kovacheva adds.
She notes that even though the State has passed a War Invalids and War Victims Act which envisages certain support, this support is not greater than the support currently received by persons with disabilities with a social pension for invalidity entitled to help from others, with financial support under Article 70 (5) of the PDA.
She adds that there is a similar issue with persons with disabilities who are entitled to a social pension for invalidity but receive a hereditary pension due to the death of a parent or parents as they are missing from the express listing under Article 70 (4) and (5).
“The Social Security Code sets out a possibility to choose the more favourable option for a pension which the persons with disabilities have done having chosen a hereditary pension rather than a social pension for invalidity (even though the difference is insignificant: several levs a month). However, the Social Security Code does not envisage the possibility for a person to reject the more favourable pension and return to the old one. This is why the persons with disabilities who receive a pension for war invalidity or a hereditary pension fall within the general group of persons with disabilities of more than 90% and receive financial support in a smaller amount – Article 70 (3),” Diana Kovacheva also emphasises.
In conclusion, she notes that approximately 310,000 levs will be needed in 2023 to solve the issue with war invalids under Article 70 (5) and to eliminate the discrimination against them.