Health insurance when moving to Türkiye: the points to check

The Turkish general health insurance (Genel Sağlık Sigortası, GSS) is governed by Law No. 5510, the carrier is the Social Security Institution (SGK), and members have a right to the benefits whose financing the SGK owes.

The GSS requires co-payments (katılım payı) for outpatient doctor and dentist visits, for prescribed outpatient medicines, for prostheses and orthoses and for certain inpatient services; the amount is set by law and by the SGK.

For foreigners, chronic illnesses that already existed before the day they became GSS members or dependants are excluded from financing by the SGK.

The sources describe two routes: work in Türkiye and, without work, an application to the GSS after one year.

Anyone who works in Türkiye under an employment contract or is self-employed there counts as insured and therefore as a GSS member. How this fits with the German-Turkish agreement is something you clarify before the move with your employer and the SGK.

Foreigners with a residence permit (oturma izni) who are not insured under foreign law and therefore cannot claim health services in Türkiye become GSS members, subject to reciprocity, if they apply after more than one year of uninterrupted residence, from the day after the application; they pay the premium themselves, and before the year has passed they do not count as GSS members. Whether reciprocity applies to German citizens and how residence is counted is something you clarify with the SGK before the move.

If you stay up to 90 days in Türkiye, you do not need a residence permit (ikamet izni); for a longer stay it is required.

For the residence permit, Türkiye requires valid health insurance for the whole period of stay applied for; anyone who is GSS-insured in Türkiye counts as validly insured, and the Göç İdaresi (Presidency of Migration Management) names as proof the SGK certificate of benefits under a social security agreement, an SGK provision certificate, the certificate of a GSS application, or private health insurance.

Anyone who can receive health services in Türkiye under a bilateral social security agreement and can prove it needs neither private nor public health insurance for the residence permit.

For residence applications made inside the country, private health insurance from foreign companies is only recognised if it was taken out in Türkiye; for applications made from abroad, policies taken out abroad are recognised if they offer the minimum cover required in Türkiye. How people from Germany proceed in practice is something you clarify before booking with the Göç İdaresi or a Turkish consulate general.

For private insurance for the residence permit, the supervisory authority SEDDK sets minimum cover limits and determines that sudden illnesses may not be excluded from cover. The amounts change; you check the supervisory authority’s current version shortly before taking out a policy.

More on the policy under international health insurance.

Before you deregister (Abmeldung) in Germany, you clarify in writing what happens to your current insurance. The questions below apply to any destination country. They are questions, not legal advice: the answers are in your contract documents or come from the body you ask.

Türkiye lies outside the EU. Türkiye is on the list of bilateral social security agreements outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, and according to the German Federal Ministry of Health the agreement also includes health insurance cover. The German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) describes, for Germans with statutory health insurance in Türkiye, an entitlement to treatment in emergency rooms and hospital outpatient departments for acute illnesses and accidents, and advises having the entitlement certificate issued by the health fund before travelling. The Federal Foreign Office strongly recommends private international travel health insurance with a repatriation option for Türkiye and advises clarifying with the health fund whether its cover includes a rescue flight to Germany. Ask your health fund explicitly about Türkiye and have the answer given to you in writing.

If you have statutory insurance: questions for your Krankenkasse

• What happens to my membership when I deregister in Germany, and on what date does it end?
• Can I suspend the membership or take it up again later, and under what conditions?
• What confirmation of my previous insurance periods do I receive, and how quickly?
• What applies to co-insured family members: who stays insured and who does not?
• Is there an entitlement to benefits for stays in Türkiye, and for what period does the fund issue the entitlement certificate?

If you have private insurance: questions for your insurer

• Does my contract end with the move, is it suspended or does it continue?
• Is there an Anwartschaft (a German option to keep certain rights in private insurance while abroad), and what is preserved under it? Ask about the difference between the small and the large Anwartschaft, and whether a new health assessment would be needed on a return.
• Does my contract apply in the destination country, and for how long at a stretch?
• Which documents do I receive in writing before I cancel?
• Does my policy apply in Türkiye, and is medical repatriation included?

Do not cancel any contract before it is clarified in writing what applies afterwards. We explain the connections on the pages Health insurance when emigrating and PKV and Anwartschaft. For families, there is more at Health insurance for the family abroad.

1. Not asking the health fund beforehand

   The German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) describes, for Germans with statutory health insurance in Türkiye, an entitlement to treatment in emergency rooms and hospital outpatient departments for acute illnesses and accidents, and advises having the entitlement certificate issued by the health fund (Krankenkasse) before travelling. Clarify this before you leave.

2. Submitting a foreign policy for an application made inside the country

   For residence applications made inside the country, private health insurance from foreign companies is only recognised if it was taken out in Türkiye; for applications made from abroad, policies taken out abroad are recognised if they offer the minimum cover required in Türkiye.

3. Counting on immediate GSS access

   Foreigners with a residence permit who are not insured under foreign law become GSS members on application only after more than one year of uninterrupted residence.

4. Underestimating pre-existing conditions

   For foreigners, chronic illnesses that already existed before the day they became GSS members or dependants are excluded from financing by the SGK.

5. Taking out a policy without the minimum cover

   For private insurance for the residence permit, the supervisory authority SEDDK sets minimum cover limits and determines that sudden illnesses may not be excluded from cover. Have compliance confirmed in writing.