Turkish Labor Law
Workers who start to work as insured must meet certain criteria in order to benefit from the health services provided by the Turkish government. In addition to these criteria, when an employee leaves his/her job, cases of taking unpaid leave, interruption of work or changing jobs should be examined separately in regard to benefitting from health services.
In order for a person to benefit from the health service provided by the government, s/he must first be covered by general health insurance. Therefore, everyone who is insured can benefit from this service by paying general health insurance premium. In general health insurance, the dependent family of the insured who pays the premium is also included in the health service. Those who are not insured or who are not dependent on any of the insured must pay general health insurance premiums by having an income test.
Benefiting from Health Care Services for Beginning Workers
The employee can start to benefit from health services after the employer has made a notification of employment to the insurance directorate of which he is affiliated, and is notified as insured for 30 days in the withholding premium service statement. Persons who did not have any insurance in the period before starting work can benefit from health services if they have been notified of their insured for 30 days after starting work.
If the employee has a 30-day insurance statement within 1 year before the starting date, it is possible to benefit from health services as of the date of employment.
Benefiting from Health Care Services for Employees Leaving Work
Employees who leave their jobs may have their right to continue to benefit from the service depending on their insurance period in the last 1 year.
In case of leaving the job, the employee can benefit from health services for 10 days as of the date of quitting, if he has paid 30-day health insurance premium within 1 year before the date of quitting.
If there is a 90-day general health insurance premium payment within the last 1 year, health services can be used for 100 days.
It is possible to benefit from the health services for the dependents of the employee within the days mentioned above.
This period is evaluated differently for people who receive unemployment benefits. In the event that the employee, whose job has been dismissed, is entitled to receive unemployment benefit, s/he has the right to benefit from health services during the period of unemployment benefit, without the requirement to pay premium for general health insurance. Dependents of the employee can also benefit from health services during this period.
Unpaid Leave – Benefiting from Health Services During Cash Wage Support Period
Unpaid Leave: A period in which the employee’s employment contract is suspended, the insurance premium is not counted in the number of days and no insurance premium is accrued on behalf of the person. Legal regulations allow workers who want to take unpaid leave to benefit from health services for 1 month. However, if this period lasts longer than 1 month, the worker cannot benefit from the health service provided by the government unless the general insurance premiums are paid.
Pandemic Unpaid Leave: During the pandemic period, the general health insurance premiums of people who are sent to unpaid leave by their employers and benefit from cash wage support are covered by the Unemployment Insurance Fund. For this reason, employees continue to benefit from healthcare services both for themselves and their dependents during this period of cash wage support. In this practice, it doesn’t matter if the unpaid leave lasts longer than 1 month.
Benefiting from Health Services in a Short Working Period
General health insurance premiums of workers who receive short work allowance are covered by the Unemployment Insurance Fund. Therefore, during the short working period, employees can benefit from healthcare for themselves and their dependents.
