Table 3.

Social health insurance structure in Turkey before and after the merger

		Scheme	Population eligibility	Benefit package	Financing	Affiliation
Turkey	Before	SSK (the Social Insurance Organisation), 1945	blue collar workers (49.49%)	Pre-paid short-term medical and maternal benefits, employment related accident and occupational disease benefits; long-term benefits for old age, disability and survivor pensions; did not provide or pay for preventive services	Employees (5% of salary), employers (6%), state subsidized (8.5% employer share 5% employee share)	Attached to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security until May 2006, transferred to the Social Security Institution
		Bağ-Kur, 1971	self-employed people, artisans, and organised groups (23.43%)	All outpatient and inpatient diagnosis and treatment. The insured were required to pay health insurance premiums for at least 8 months and have no record of default of health insurance and long term insurance premiums	20% premiums collected from beneficiaries. The scheme worked on a reimbursement system	Attached to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security until May 2006, transferred to the Social Security Institution
		Emekli Sandigi (the Government Employees Retirement Fund), 1949	Retired civil servants and their dependents (13%)	Diagnosis and treatment	20% of the deduction of the Government Employees Retirement Fund (State share as employer), 16% of the deduction of the Government Employees Retirement Fund (participant share) for both health and pension; funded through the contributions of the active civil servants and their employers (general budget revenues)	Attached to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security until May 2006, transferred to the Social Security Institution
		the Active Civil Servants Insurance Fund, 1965	civil servants in work and their dependents	Diagnosis and treatment	Benefits were financed by general tax revenues; no premiums were assessed for active civil servants while they were covered directly through their employers	Attached to the Ministry of Finance through their institutions until 2010, transferred to the Social Security Institution in January 2010
		the Green Card, 1992	Uninsured poor individuals (15%)	Inpatient and ambulatory care, pharmaceuticals	General budget (100%)	Attached to the Ministry of Finance through the Ministry of Health, will be transferred to the Social Security Institution by the end of 2012
	After merging	General Health Insurance scheme, 2006	Turkish citizens, refugees, foreigners residing in Turkey for more than 1 year	(1) Primary care, rehabilitation, preventive services; (2) ambulatory and inpatient care; (3) maternal benefits as well as in vitro fertilization treatment; (4) partial general oral and dental care; (5) blood and blood products, bone marrow, vaccination, medicine, medical devices and equipment	12.5% of a person’s gross income, and employee (5%), and employer (7.5%) salary deductions. The rate for people who are only dependent on General Health Insurance Scheme is 12% of their earnings. The contribution of the state will be 3% of insured earnings as the basis for premiums	Attached to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security through the Social Security Institution