What could be more important than health? No problem! But I’m better versed in the economic health of companies than in the health of people. Therefore, Zarina Mehmetoglu, an employee of the Expert Property agency, who has a specialized medical education and has worked in the Turkish health care system for a long time, helped me deal with this topic.

As you can see, our agency employs experts of various profiles, which allows us to provide the widest possible range of services at the highest level.

General information about Turkish medicine

Let’s start with a general overview so that our compatriots better understand what will be discussed next. The Turkish medical system, after active reforms and considerable investments in recent years, has approached the standards of the European Union in all respects, except for one – prices. Prices here are much lower than in Europe with a comparable level of service, but slightly higher than in the CIS countries.

However, there is a nuance – all these advantages can be appreciated either by a Turkish citizen or a foreigner with a residence permit (residence permit), because there is a separate price list for tourists, with much higher rates. I will elaborate on this later.

Turkish insurance medicine – there are both private and public policies that differ in cost and list of services. There are also both private and public establishments. The former are more comfortable and expensive, the latter are more versatile and financially affordable, but with long queues. In the post-Soviet space, the situation is almost the same, but the level of equipment of public Turkish hospitals is often much higher and not inferior to private ones.

Including due to the very favorable price/quality ratio, many foreigners, including Europeans, choose Turkey for a second citizenship or for obtaining a residence permit – most often people go to Turkey from Germany for medical tourism. Based on the statistics of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the prices for treatment in Germany are 2-3 times higher than for similar services in Turkey.

To this must be added the comfort of Turkey, the freshest fruits and vegetables, as well as the healing air. For example, in Antalya, where I now live, the sea breeze, mountain streams, as well as the air of coniferous and deciduous forests are mixed. This is just a magical “cocktail” of air currents, which in itself is a therapy for the human respiratory tract – the coronavirus has brought the demand for such recovery to a new level.

Numerous positive reviews from patients highly appreciate both Turkey as a whole and the qualifications of doctors. All this stimulates the development of medical tourism in Turkey, which is growing more and more every year.

Health problems due to excess weight and cosmetic surgery have become a very popular destination. For this, more and more patients go to Turkey, where they also perform such radical procedures as gastrectomy at reasonable prices. Diabetes treatment in Turkey will be 3-4 times cheaper than in Germany with a comparable level of medical services.

Tips for tourists

Our advice to tourists arriving in Turkey on vacation is to purchase a medical insurance policy in their homeland. This policy allows you to seek medical help from a medical institution with which the insurance company cooperates. Travel insurance itself is very different – some cover 100% of the amount of treatment, while others only part of it. In addition, the list of insured events can vary greatly.

The classic travel policy usually includes food poisoning, help with all sorts of bruises and fractures (for example, after falling on a slippery floor in the pool), sunstroke, heart attack, etc. That is, the most common diseases. Now this list includes help with coronavirus.

Insurance companies are trying to make as much money as possible on travelers, but provide as few services as possible. Therefore, the policy can formally cover the case, but have a number of additional conditions. For example, it often happens that the policy compensates up to 60% of outpatient treatment or only the first visit to the doctor. And up to 100% in case of hospitalization (i.e. in particularly difficult cases). But they can put a condition that this will work in full only if you use their services for at least a year.

The list of services and insured events must be checked before departure. We especially recommend that you carefully study the insurance for children, because they are very active and more often than adults get into unpleasant health situations. The number of insured events directly affects the cost of the policy – the more of them, the higher the price.

To protect yourself from such cases, you need to carefully read your policy and find out the clinics that will be able to serve you with it in the region where you will rest. Also in Turkey there should be representative offices of your insurance company, where they should advise you if necessary – their contacts should be at hand. It is advisable to study this in advance, because when something happens to health, there may no longer be free time.

A very important point is to determine how close the partner clinics of your insurer are to you, because the same ambulance will take you to the nearest clinic. If this clinic is not a partner, then what we described above will happen to you – you will have to pay the full amount of treatment. That is, the first task, when the case has already occurred, is to confirm with the insurance company whether there is a contract with a specific clinic and to ensure that you are taken there.

Quite often it happens that Turkish clinics refuse to accept tourist patients under the policy or allow you to compensate for a small percentage of their services – up to 10% or even less. At the same time, the price tag for foreigners can be given many times higher than for Turks – the cost of admission can soar from 15-20 to 200-300 dollars.

This happens when a foreigner tries to get services in a clinic that does not have a contract with his insurance company or numerous additional terms of the policy allow them to refuse services. Therefore, it is so important to determine whether this clinic is a partner of your insurer and whether your case is insured. And the overestimation of tariffs in clinics for tourists is an international trend – alas, foreigners are considered as a source of income.

Very rare private clinics have the same approach and price tag for Turks and foreigners. If we talk about Antalya, then the entire list of such loyal clinics is limited, perhaps, to the institution of Akdeniz Shifa. Public clinics can also accept foreigners with a more reasonable price.

Advantages of a residence permit and second citizenship

Turkish medical institutions treat those who have a residence permit in Turkey in a completely different way. Even if they do not have a Turkish policy, the rates for their medical care will be much lower than for ordinary tourists – especially in public institutions. Yes, and they will be accepted in any clinic, even without a policy. That attitude towards them almost as citizens. For example, the holder of a residence permit can file a complaint against the institution.

Therefore, those who have issued a residence permit along with housing become more medically protected than ordinary tourists. Moreover, since 2014, a prerequisite for obtaining a residence permit is that a person has a medical insurance policy – without it, a residence permit simply will not be given.

However, they usually draw up the cheapest standard policies, which cover almost nothing. And this often turns out at the most crucial moment – when the health problem has already manifested itself.

Therefore, if you plan to live in Turkey for a long time, we recommend that you take not a standard policy, but choose more extended versions, while studying what is included there. Yes, they are more expensive, but buying a cheap policy will give you almost nothing.

An insurance policy suitable for a residence permit can cost both 250 and 700 Turkish liras per year. Each insurance company has an annual limit for the amount within which you can receive medical care at the expense of the insurer. And this limit often corresponds to the amount that you pay for the policy for the year – what you give, you practically receive.

A cheap policy may not include, for example, regular examinations or tests. Preventive procedures are also often not covered or are not fully covered. Any aesthetic or plastic surgery is not included even in the most expensive policies – this is not considered mandatory.

State insurance for foreigners: how to get it and what it gives

Few foreigners know, but Turkey has public health insurance for non-citizens. Before that, we talked about private insurance companies and their services, touching on public services only in passing.

To date, there are a number of conditions that allow a foreigner to obtain a state policy with a wider list of services and medical institutions at lower costs. Its cost will cost about 900 lira per year, but its capabilities are much higher than private counterparts for the same money.

These conditions are as follows:

• Availability of a residence permit;
• A year of continuous residence in Turkey;
• Lack of health insurance in any other country.

I note that the Turkish Ministry of Health can make a request to your homeland to find out if you have public or private health insurance there. There is a system of international agreements that regulate the exchange of such information. If such a policy is found, then you will be denied a Turkish policy.

State insurance is standard and can cover not only the applicant himself, but also all family members, including imperfect children. When applying to public clinics, such a policy usually covers 100% of expenses, and up to 40-50% in private institutions.

At the same time, the provision of public clinics is not inferior to private ones, but the main problem here is huge queues. With online registration, the waiting list can be 1-2 weeks or even more, and health does not always make it possible to wait. It is even more difficult to get an appointment with leading specialists – there the online queue can last for months.

The good news is that in Turkey you can immediately go to an appointment with a specialist, and you will still be fully examined (ultrasound, etc.). While in the CIS, you must first wait in line for a therapist who will send you first for tests and only then to a narrow specialist, to whom you will have to wait in line again. If this is an online queue, then it may take at least a couple of weeks, or maybe the whole month, to get to a narrow specialist.

In Turkey, this process is built more reasonably – yes, you will have to wait for an appointment, but you will be able to do all the research at once in one visit. If you do not want to wait, you will have to go to a private clinic, where the cost of service is noticeably higher, and the possibilities are often lower than in a large public clinic. Medical facilities are often highly specialized. However, as I wrote above, even in this case, the state policy will cover up to 50% of the cost of services.

However, a number of state programs were excluded from the state insurance for foreigners, which remain in the option for citizens. In particular, a foreigner with a residence permit will not be able to receive free medicines for oncology, diabetes and other complex diseases with expensive treatment.

If we consider that more than 40 thousand families receive a Turkish passport or residence permit in a year only under the simplified citizenship program, it is not surprising that the state has introduced these restrictions – Turkey is a rich and generous country, but it also has its limits.

Some diseases can be added to the insurance and therefore it is necessary to clarify all the details when applying for a policy – it may be possible to add more insured events. Which, however, will affect the cost of insurance.

I will add that private companies have excluded people over 65 from their programs. Many companies simply refuse to insure the elderly. Because pensioners are more likely to get sick, and, accordingly, insurers have to pay for their treatment more often – that is, incur losses. But state insurance provides them with protection, including foreigners with residence permit status. That is why Turkey is so valued by pensioners.

However, do not forget about the list of chronic and serious diseases that state insurance does not cover – for the elderly, this topic is especially relevant. But even in this case, the policy is a very good help for regular examinations and solving less global health problems.

Inference

Health is the most important thing that each of us has. Especially if we are also talking about the health of our loved ones. Therefore, our today’s topic is relevant for anyone who intends to visit Turkey as a tourist or move here for permanent residence.

Zarina and I tried to touch on all the key nuances of Turkish medicine. It has a huge number of advantages, but there are also some “pitfalls” that should be avoided.

We, together with the entire Expert Property team, will be sincerely glad if this article helps to preserve the health of you and your loved ones, as well as save your family budget. We wish every reader strength and optimism, despite all the diseases and viruses. Be healthy and happy, because you are in Turkey, where even the air heals and lifts your spirits!

Yours Tatiana Güneş