In Turkey, public financing of healthcare services is being provided by the Social Security Institution within the scope of the General Healthcare Insurance. In-line with the Health Implementation Communiqué (SUT), the Social Security Instituion is applying co-payment (contribution fee) for certain healthcare expenses as to be paid by the patient. Medicines prescribed by GPs or doctors are also within the scope of co-payment.
The basic logic of the co-payment application is to support healthcare providers who provide more qualified healthcare services with the contributions of patients, as well as to prevent unnecessary use of the healthcare services. The co-payment in medicines is aiming to prevent excessive usage and avoid uncessary prescriptions.
For which medicines is the co-payment paid?
Provided that it is documented with a health report, no co-payment is collected from the medicines specified in the list for the diseases included in the SUT Annex “List of Medicines Exempt from Patient Co-payment” (ANNEX-4/D).
A co-payment is charged for the rest of other medicies from the patients in line with the Health Implementation Communiqué of the Social Security Institution. The co-payment is being paid to the institution.
What is the co-payment rate for medicines?
For drugs provided in outpatient treatment, a co-payment of 10% of the medicines cost is collected for those who receive income and pension from the Institution and their dependents.
The co-payment rate is 20% for other people, including active workers.
How is the co-payment collected for medications provided in outpatient treatment?
The co-payment for medications provided in outpatient treatmen are being collected in two ways:
- By deducting from the income and pensions of those who receive income and pension from the Social Security Insitution and their dependents.
- For other persons, the co-payment is being collected by pharmacies contracted with the Institution while the patient has applied for obtaining the medicine.
Co-payment for medications provided in outpatient treatment
As it is being clarified, for drugs covered by the Social Security Institution, a 10% contribution fee is collected from those who receive income and pension from the Institution and their dependents, and 20% from other persons.
Additionally, for each prescription an additional participation fee is being collected with the following amounts:
- For medicines supplied in up to 3 boxes (including three boxes), TRL 3 (three),
- TRL 1 (one) for each box of medicine supplied in addition to the 3 boxes,
- For injectable forms, serum, nutritional products and magistrals, each item is considered as 1 box, regardless of the number of boxes.
- In the diseases included in the “List of Drugs Exempt from Patient Contribution Fee” (ANNEX-4/D) published on the official website of the Institution, provided that it is documented with a health report, the participation specified in this article for the drugs specified in the list are not applied and are not taken into account in the box/item calculation.
