Health Services in Turkey

On of the main concerns of Turkish Citizenship applicants is Health Services in Turkey.

Health services in Turkey is composed of a mixture of public and private health services.

It has universal health services within the context of the General Health Insurance system.

Within the context of this system, all residents registered with the Social Security Institution (SGK) can receive free medical treatment in hospitals contracted with the Social Security Institution.

Coverage

The reason of the health reforms of the 2000s and 2010s, universal health insurance coverage for the population has been provided and the overall quality of healthcare has improved significantly, from 39.5% in 2003 when patients were satisfied to 75.9% in 2011.

medical treatments below are provided by the SGK

• Emergency Situations
• Work accidents and occupational diseases
• Infectious diseases
• Preventive health services (drug and alcohol addiction)
• Childbirth
• Extraordinary events (injuries from war and natural disasters)
• For women younger than 39 years of fertility treatment have
• Medical surgery deemed necessary

While some SSI-contracted hospitals offer dental care , in most cases patients have to base upon private dental services and are responsible for covering the costs. In addition, patients must partially reimburse the cost of some prescription medications.

Private health services

There is also a large private health sector. Private healthcare services often provide shorter waiting times and higher quality services. Most banks and insurance companies offer private health policy with some hospitals and doctors.

Health services in Turkey was dominated by a central state system operated by the Ministry of Health. In 2003,  extensive health reform program was intended at increasing the ratio of private healthcare to public healthcare and offering healthcare to a larger segment of the population. Turkey Statistical Institute from information received annual 76.3 billion pounds of that spent on health care, 79.6% of the funds from the Social Security Institute and most of the rest (15.4%) states that came from out of pocket payments.  27,954 health facilities, 1.7 doctors for every 1000 people and 2.54 beds for 1000 people.

Having long queues for  personal and private healthcare services in public hospitals in Turkey has increased over the last decade. Most private hospitals have contracts with various insurance companies, Therefore it is now possible to get different treatments from the government. After the increasing competition of private hospitals, there has been an improvement in the quality of public hospitals.  The healthcare system, which is much more improved in the western half of the country, serves poorly to the rural population. Between 80 and 90 percent of the population, including self-employed people, have health services provided by the national pension system, but are often attracted to private healthcare providers in urban areas due to high quality care. Although the private healthcare industry has grown rapidly since the 1990s, Only 2% of the population has private health insurance, especially in urban areas.

Turkey has developed to help low-income green card to get medical help social. Spending on this system reached 40 billion TL in 2010. For this reason, reforms were made in the system in 2011 and the number of people who could benefit from this system was reduced. Following the 2012 Universal Health Insurance Law, the Green Card system was abolished.  Since 2012, the General Health Insurance (GSS) regulation has been brought into force. With this regulation, health services were started to be paid through SGK for employees and retirees, and through GSS for students and non-working people who were under 25 years of age. Other factors include the scope of the insurance policy for pre-existing illnesses, situations out of coverage, or changes in health care wages. Private health insurance prices also vary according to policy limits. If you buy a policy with a limit of 10,000 TL, you are going to use your rights according to health insurance when you receive a health service of 10,000 TL and you will have to make the next expenses from your own budget. Accordingly, the fees to be paid for the products for which the policy is unlimited will be higher. Private health insurance premiums may vary depending on the product to be preferred, apart from these criteria.

Health tourism

The first six months in 2018, Turkey had a major medical tourism business and had been visited about 178 thousand tourists for the purpose of health. 67% of tourists used private hospitals, 24% state hospitals and 9% university hospitals. The International Health Tourism and Tourist Health Regulation entered into force on 13 July 2017. It is only binding for tourists coming for treatment.