another twist to sgk?

[Rimms]

Everything I've read says you take it out within a month of the first anniversary of your residency.
Can you not take it out from day one ?

No, you have to be resident for one year

[desmartinson]

And then you only have to take it if you want it. it is not Compulsary.

[grizabella]

What if you registered at the beginning when the scaremongers were saying register or be fined then decided Not to join but took out private cover instead?Would you still be stopped at customs on your exit from/entry to Turkey?

[Rimms]

No, you don't have to register for the scheme and you can take out private insurance or even decide to " pay as you go " The point is that if you did register after listening to the "Scaremonger's" and haven't bothered making payments into the scheme, you could be liable to pay a fine and repay all of the missed monthly premiums.

The question of being stopped at airports came about when one lady asked  "will the authorities come after you for this money" the consulates said, Yes, very probably, he said, remember you gave your tax number, this provides links to your bank accounts, residency permit and passport, therefore you could be stopped when entering or leaving the country.

I have to say that I wouldn't be loosing sleep over this, the guy from the consulate seemed less than confident on the subject, I found myself thinking that this guy must have had some sense of the strength of feeling and general confusion about SGK, in fact this was borne out by his admission that similar previous meetings have attracted between 50 to 80 attendees, there must of been 250 people there today, despite this, he obviously hadn't been into the SGK office to agree with the manager what EXACTLY the line is on people who registered fearing a fine if they didn't. telling people that if they went along to SGK, the clerk may take a lenient attitude with you! Understandably, a lot of people who had obviously registered but hadn't taken up the scheme, clearly didn't want to go within a mile of the office.

[LeeGlo]

I must agree SGK is a very good deal, if you are an older person private health insurance premiums are huge and do not cover everything.  As of January this year the cost of SGK is 234TL for a MARRIED couple. My husband had an eye test with a consultant at the Esnaf recently - cost 31TL with SGK, it would have been 65TL and possibly a consultation fee as well without it.

When all the brewhaha was taking place we discussed our options, up until then we had put a "pot" aside for health costs, but realized  that any major surgery would wipe it out in no time. Private insurance was too expensive, so for us this is brilliant.

The friends I mentioned in my earlier post DO NOT wish to join, so they are in the position of many others who registered to avoid a possible fine,  but have never paid in and don't know how to get out of it. This is what the Consulate need to be working on in my opinion.

[Ian]

Just to confirm what happened to us in December 2012 as I stated in another thread.
We were leaving to go back to the UK for 3 months at Christmas and as we were one of those who registered in late January 2012 - only 3 weeks after obtaining our FIRST visa (a 5 year one) - our first anniversary to commence making payments was approaching and we actually wanted to prepay as we do want to be in the scheme.

The young man in the SGK office went to great lengths on 2 separate occasions to tell me "you don't have to join if you don't want to"  - he said this with my initial letter from the SGK office from February 2012 in front of him along with all my other documents.

In fact I said at the time - it was as though they had been told "try and talk them out of it if you can" - I was insistent that we wanted to join so eventually he said "you must come back in January"  

I expect to pay 3 months back payments and that is fine but my overall impression was unless you actually start paying they won't chase you to formally join the scheme.

Ian

Sent from my ARCHOS 80 COBALT using Tapatalk 2

[billy3107]

I have a residency permit and spend 6 months a year in Turkey  3 x 6 week holidays and 2 x 3 week holidays i have not registered and don,t want to be in the scheme.If at a later date i want to join i need to reside in Turkey continuously for 1 year and then join but then it is difficult to get out of the scheme is this correct

[quackers]

You get Eye tests at a reduced rate at Kartal and hospıtals and a 50tl payment towards lenses. Dentısts tell me only emergancy treatment at  hospıtals ıs covered under scheme not general check ups and cosmetıc procedures. Stıll thınk ıt ıs good value. My sıster paıd the new rate 234tl thıs month.
They now charge 40tl for the translators at Letoon whıch covers you for 6 months use of theır servıces. Free at Devlet and Esnaf.

[Rindaloo]

I am sorry to say that in the past the lady manager at the SGK office has been working to her own rules, despite being told by those in authority above her, that she is wrong.  I dont know if she now toes the line and does what the SKG rules say.

[quackers]

There is a new manager now a man.