Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Information and Services in Turkey Section => Health & Healthcare => Topic started by: grizabella on July 27, 2012, 16:47:53 PM
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Have just been speaking to a chap that is returning to the UK permanently.He registered for the sgk insurance but decided to opt out.When speaking with his lawyer yesterday he was told to pay the back payments or he may be stopped at the airport and prevented from leaving the country till the debt was paid.Does anyone have any information or personal experience of this happening?I am returning to the UK on the 7th August for 2 weeks.I also registered but decided to opt out of sgk and am concerned that I may have trouble at the airport.
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How the hell is anyone at Dalaman departures going to know what someone who is leaving the country has, or has not paid ?? What a complete load of utter crap some people believe !! >:(
He will probably also believe that he is going to be extradited and banned from coming back for 5 years !!
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Carefull GordonA ,they might think you're a laydeeee when you return if they see your piccy! ;) ;)
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As I understand things, you don't get asked for your passport everywhere you go in Turkey for nothing - if you owe someone something (or have broken the law) the passport check at Dalaman is one of the places that could flag this up. Whether it would or not for SGK is debatable - their computer systems don't seem to be that reliable ;)
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if you owe someone something (or have broken the law) the passport check at Dalaman is one of the places that could flag this up.
Not could flag this up but will flag it up.
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Thing is,I was lead to believe that although I had registered at the sgk I was not obliged to join the scheme.As for checking passports at the airport.Its the checking of my blue book that could flag up the non payment as my registration number is there.What I really need to know is .......because I registered am I now obliged to join the scheme and should I do this before I leave on the 7th August.Has anyone in my situation (registered but not made any payments) left Turkey recently and did they have any problems at pasport control?
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As I understand things, you don't get asked for your passport everywhere you go in Turkey for nothing - if you owe someone something (or have broken the law) the passport check at Dalaman is one of the places that could flag this up. Whether it would or not for SGK is debatable - their computer systems don't seem to be that reliable ;)
Yep, three or four years ago on around four or five occasions, every time we came on holiday scanning my husband's passport brought up a huge red warning on the security screen on arrival or departure in Dalaman. I know because the first time it happened I had already come through passport control into Turkey. They made him stand to one side and wouldn't let me back through so I stood behind the booth. His passport was whisked away and eventually men in suits came and let him through. We had the same experience when we left the country.
When we asked why a friendly little soul in a suit told us it was "because we can". It eventually transpired that his first name and surname corresponds with that of someone who they were looking for. Fortunately my husband has a middle name which the other person did not. Quite scary the first couple of times it happened and it became increasingly annoying thereafter. We met someone else in the same predicament one time - he had apparently been going through this for around six years and had contacted the British Consulate to try and get an explanation and the problem sorted.
There is a couple in Kaya who are leaving the country shortly and who have had an ongoing battle regarding SGK. They were told they could not cancel it and that it would remain "live" for the duration of their RP whether or not they were in Turkey. They have been trying to get their RPs cancelled and I think they were successful but there have been so many twists and turns that I wouldn't like to say the current situation or predict the final outcome.
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My Turkısh frıend says he should go to the SGK offıce and see what they have under his name for SGK and get ıt cancelled before he leaves. Saves any hassle at the aırport.
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My friend Tony tried to do this and they told him he had to pay the outstanding debt although he had told them from the beginning he wanted to opt out.He was also informed that the payments would still continue even when he had left the country till his blue book expired.This will make him liable for the paytments should he ever return to Turkey!Just doesnt seem right to me.What I still want to know is........Has anyone left Turkey recently who has decided to opt out of sgk after registering,and what if any hassle did they get at the airport?
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Watching this with much interest as like many others I understood we had to register by a certain date or face a hefty fine. Once it was established that joining was not compulsory and you had a choice I assumed that unless I started paying I was not entitled to the health benefits. Why are Turkish rules so adaptable to the authorities yet there is no need to inform anyone of any changes made.Wishing you luck on your outward journey on the 7th Edie.........
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No problem at the airport flying out on the 7th....phew!Passport police seemed more interested in the change in my passport pic from 10 years ago to the present day!!!!Must admit I did have a wee sweat on before I passed through!
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Glad you had no problems but not surprised about your passport photo......you have lost so much weight its taken years off you. Looking good girl . Enjoy your holiday
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Thankyou so much but I took his remarks totally the other way!!!!!I'm sure he thought I looked much older.It's all the wild living that's done it I'm afraid!
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Along with about 250 other people, today I attended a meeting organised by the British Consulate, several topics were discussed, among them SGK. The consulate conceded that in the early days, their understanding was that everybody who had been resident for one year or more was required to register with SGK, whether you intended to join the scheme or not.
He then went on to say that following negotiations early last year that allowed UK citizens to decide whether to join the scheme or not, the rules were further clarified and it seems that if you have registered with SGK, it is likely you are part of the scheme and may well owe a fine plus back payments from to the date you registered.
He then went on to say that the only way to come off the scheme is to either, surrender your residency and leave Turkey, become a citizen,, marry a Turkish National or Die ( the last one seems the easiest )
He did warn that once unpaid back payments reached a certain level, it was likely that the authorities would pursue you and this would include computerised notifications to customs officers at the borders.
He also clarified the rules where some had reported being charged large amounts of back payments when first joining the scheme, he went on to explain that you should join the SGK within a month of the first anniversary from obtaining residency, if you fail to do this and leave it for example 18 months, you could be charged six months back payment, I use the word 'could' as he pointed out that sometimes the clerk processing you may take a more lenient approach.
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Some friends of ours registered when they thought they HAD no choice but have never paid anything as they didn't really want to join. They went to the UK and back to Turkey over this Christmas and didn't mention that they had any problems at exit/entry points.
Thank you RIMMS for that most enlightening update - doesn't seem that the Consulate have made much progress in clarifying anything with regard to SGK and everyone is STILL at the mercy of the "mood on the day" of the person who deals with them - no change there then just "as normal" for Turkey.
BTW RIMMS my tongue in cheek remarks were intended in respect of the Consulate not your post.
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What exactly are the benefits of the scheme (or should I say scam??)
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The benefits, as I understand them are having health insurance at a fairly significant level of cover as opposed to having no health insurance, unless of course you have arranged this separately.
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so for things like hip replacement you would be covered under this scheme then?
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The benefits, as I understand them are having health insurance at a fairly significant level of cover as opposed to having no health insurance, unless of course you have arranged this separately.
Precisely!
It is not a scam . It is a very effective State Health Insurance.
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I have seen lots of posts about people not wishing to be part of it I was wondering what the snags were, if any, and whether you would choose that option over a private health policy
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Once again, I'm no expert but I believe hip replacements are covered under SGK, I know knee replacements are. I'm sure you can arrange private cover to take account of any eventuality, whether you can achieve this for 234 lira per month for a married couple may be another matter.
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213tl (£78) a month for husband, wife (and kids) for a medical insurance that includes optical and dental treatment sounds pretty damn good to me :) (or haven't I read the small print ?)
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234 !!!!! - I read 213 on-line this morning (must have been an out of date website) :D
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For us it is the best thing since "sliced bread".
We originally had private health insurance but the costs became prohibitive for us.
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would that also include dental care?
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on reading these further posts I don't know why you wouldn't do it!
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The consulate said the price had risen in 2013 to 234 lira ( or that's what I thought I heard him say )
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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 ?
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Don't know about dental care.
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The 213tl figure came from a Consulate document from Feb 2012 (so out of date) but which also said :-
Members of the Universal Health Insurance Scheme will benefit from the scheme regardless of their nationality according to the Health Procedure Announcement(SUT) as long as their premiums are fully paid.
According to the regulations of the institution’s announcement, eye (spectacle) and dental treatment will be provided.
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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
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And then you only have to take it if you want it. it is not Compulsary.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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There is a new manager now a man.
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To put things in perspective - I paid £310 and Angela paid £230 (£540 or 1500TL in total) National Insurance contributions last month in UK. (And I know this pays for more than just healthcare) ;)
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Now I know why we pay so much in NI contributions in the UK !!!!
National Insurance is now used to pay for:
The NHS
Unemployment benefit
Sickness and disability allowances
The state pension
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Used SGK after hubby had a nasty fall, MRI, hospitaised and had surgery, he was an in-patient for 2days fantastic result :)
paid 10% of actual bill ;) well worth it to us... BUT.... just wish it could be paid online. Nightmare at banks when wanting to pay
still no Iban number given to allow online payment : :)
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I pay at the Fatura opposıte the Mosque. It cost me 2 tl but never a problem.
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You can pay online with Teb Bank.
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You can pay online with Teb Bank.
I have seen this entry on the TEB website but thought it was only for company/business account holders. How do you pay, as an individual, without knowing the SGK's IBAN number?
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i pay online with the ziraat
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LeeGlo, provided you are paying your SGK online from a Turkish bank, you do not need an Iban number.
All you need is your Kimlik number and it will bring up your details. You can choose how to pay - from your a/c or credit card - and choose to pay all of the amount or a part amount.
Hope this helps you.
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Thank you very much Crinklies for that information. I will have a look at the TEB website again and try it next month. Just been this morning to pay February.
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Hi guys - has anyone tried paying SGK on-line using Garanti bank. When I tried it asks for my "MERNIS" number but I have no idea what that is and cannot find any reference to it in the paperwork. Any advice would be appreciated ;)
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I asked on another thread about paying SGK at Garanti and apparently it's not possible.
We went and signed up for ours this week, thankfully we took a Turkish advisor with us who had filled out our application forms. The lady in the SGK office started typing our details into the computer and soon announced "Problem" it seems that some addresses are not on their database. We then had to travel into the council offices in Fethiye, on the ground floor we registered our details with a guy who took our residency and Kimlik numbers, he then printed off some forms, one of which we have to hand into the Mutar. The other forms we took back to the SGK office and they set us up without any further problem. We are back into town this morning to make our first payment, after which we are covered. By the way, we are not being asked to make any back payment as our first year of residency was completed this month.
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Thanks George. We're just going to go to one of the banks to pay from now on :)
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We had the same scenario regarding the address, even though living in the property for over 4 years at the time.
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We paid today at Vakif Bank in Fethiye, it was really easy, there touch screen ticket dispenser is colour coded. Press the yellow option and then give the clerk your kimlik number. Hey presto !
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We pay ours online with Teb bank. Easier still... I have had it with queuing at The banks.
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Is there somewhere where you can get accurate up to date information on the SGK scheme? We currently have private insurance, but as there is so much conflicting information about the SGK scheme I can't work out if we would be better or worse off by joining...
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Phil, I'm not sure if there is, the guy who helped me fill in my forms and went along to the office with me is an official translator recommended by the British Consulate. He does these applications very regularly for Brits. Germans, Dutch etc. and told me the regulations about this scheme seem to be down to the SGK counter clerks interpretation. I had to write on my form that I did not have any private healthcare in my native country and sign accordingly. I guess that is the same as the UK where you can't be insured twice for the same thing.
Here is my understanding of the scheme, please understand that I'm certainly not an expert and if others correct any of the following then I will be delighted, but please only do so if you are absolutely certain of the facts, this way we may get a comprehensive understanding.
1, To apply to join SGK you need to have been resident for one year and you must join within the first 4 weeks of the first anniversary of your first years residency, failure to join in this time frame will incur a small fine and a requirement to pay back payments, I.e. if you apply after being resident for 18 months, you will have to pay a fine and six months back payment.
2 You do not have to join the SGK. you are allowed to Pay as yo go or have private insurance.
3. If you have filled in and signed the forms (as many did in the early days of the scheme to avoid the threat of a fine) then you are in the SGK scheme regardless whether you have paid any payments or not. If you haven't made any payments, you owe the money back to the date of your application.
4. Once you apply and have been accepted for SGK you are effectively locked in, the only conditions to exit the scheme are: you surrender or fail to renew residency. you become a Turkish Citizen, you marry and become dependent on a Turkish National, you die.
5, The cost of the scheme is 234.86 TL per month. This premium covers a family, married couple or single person. If you live together without being married you will both have to pay the monthly premium. To prove your marital status, you need to have your marriage certificate translated and notarised.
6, Cover. 100% of the cost of treatment carried out in a state hospital is covered by SGK. if you choose a private hospital (like Esnaf or Letton) the majority of the treatment cost will be met by SGK but you will be required to make a contribution. Emergency dentistry is included but not cosmetic procedures. I also understand that the cost of any medicines prescribed by a doctor are included in the scheme, can someone who uses SGK when obtaining medicine please clarify.
7, Pre existing medical conditions are covered under SGK.
Any further points, amendments and clarifications would be helpful.
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Exactly as we understand it George - a really good summing up :)
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philrose, I currently have private insurance and last year the premium shot up by almost one third even though I have never made a claim and had the policy for more than 5 years.
Friends of mine private insurance premium with a different insurer more than doubled to over 2000TL each. As a couple they decided it was more advantageous to pay into the SGK scheme plus it covers some dental and eye sight treatment as I understand it and plus prescription costs are covered.
It is possible with the loss of many private insurers to SGK that the insurance companies are seeking to recouping their losses.
I am paying 1000TL a year with a private scheme at the moment so I am just waiting to see what happens at renewal time this year but as each year passes I get a year older and as this is the criteria they allege determines the cost of a policy I expect to be joining SGK in the foreseeable future.
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Re item 6 George...yes medicines prescribed by a doctor are included in the scheme. I am on meds now and SGK is covering the costs.
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Thanks for the info guys, really usefull. I think we will be sticking to our private scheme for now, the SGK altough it covers more is a lot more expensive.
The thing I really don't understand about about the SGK scheme is why the hell do you have to back pay for cover you have never had? That's totally crazy....
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Probably for the same reason that a union won't handle a personal case when someone suddenly wants to joins just because they find they need it and the services and support they offer. You would normally have to be a member for 6 months first and pay your dues like everyone else.
I would imagine it is the same principle here but I suspect that the farther away from the start of the scheme we get the less the penalty/fine will be and Turkey often offers amnesties or deals on things like this in order to encourage people who have dropped out of schemes to rejoin/contribute again and maybe in this case to simply join.
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Being a member for 6 months before you can claim would indeed make more sense, than trying to backcharge you to when the scheme started. I hope you are right about it changing in the future, otherwise I can't see anyone joining up as it would cost too much..
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Have just been speaking to a chap that is returning to the UK permanently.He registered for the sgk insurance but decided to opt out.When speaking with his lawyer yesterday he was told to pay the back payments or he may be stopped at the airport and prevented from leaving the country till the debt was paid.Does anyone have any information or personal experience of this happening?I am returning to the UK on the 7th August for 2 weeks.I also registered but decided to opt out of sgk and am concerned that I may have trouble at the airport.
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As far as I know the only way you can get out of Turkish health insurance is when you go back to uk for good or when you die, but they may expect you to pay up for the year or pay any arrears. If you just stop paying they will call on you for arrears.