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I assume that you're speaking from personal experience - can you give more details?  I've been registered with an S1 for many years and I've not had any problem like this...

We also never had problems until we went to get the a document from NAP stating we do not owe any tax to the government and suddenly BANG health payments for the past 5 years. Apparently in our case NAP was not notified about the S1 from the Health Fund.

That's very useful to know!

I hope they agreed to clear the payments for you.

Yes, everything was cleared once we showed S1 +letter from Health fund.

@mccallum

I'm not sure that S1 forms work like that. They're a portable benefit within the EU (and UK), with your host country (e.g. Bulgaria) being reimbursed by the issuing country (e.g. UK), and no direct charge to the holder (e.g. you).

Were you perhaps already resident in Bulgaria (and making monthly NHIF contributions) before you reached retirement age (and got your S1)? That seems a more plausible reason why Bulgaria expected money from you. Maybe you simply registered your S1 (as soon as you got it) and stopped making monthly contributions (without discussing with NHIF)?

It's certainly the case that those enrolled in NHIF are expected to maintain a complete record of payments. If I stop paying my health coverage (after a short period) will lapse. If I try to reinstate it a year later, I have to restart my contributions AND pay the missing months (with late fees).

@mccallum

Thanks for your useful post.

I will be renewing my Article 50 residence card in the next couple of months, so it was of particular interest.

It's not clear from your post under what circumstances you were inconvenienced in this way.

Did this happen when you were applying to renew your Article 50 residence card ? Were you asked to show both your S1 and also a letter showing you didn't owe health insurance contributions to the NAP ?  And did this happen recently ?

If I remember correctly, other posters on this topic have mentioned either an S1 or proof that you are up to date paying NHIF contributions. However, I realise that immigration offices in different parts of the country sometimes have additional requirements.

Anyway, from your second post it appears everything was cleared up after you produced a copy of the official document that the NHIF gave you when you first registered your S1 with them. ( I assume that is what you meant by the letter from the NHIF. Please correct me if I have misunderstood)

We both registered with a GP in our village we had to give her copies of our S1