General health insurance through SGK

The statutory scheme is general health insurance (genel sağlık sigortası, or GSS), run by the Social Security Institution (SGK) under Law No. 5510 on social insurance and general health insurance. Accounting-firm guidance explains that a person working under an employment contract is insured under section 4/a of that law and pays GSS premiums through payroll. EOR providers add that cover starts when the employer registers the worker with SGK as a 4/a insured employee.

Outside employment the rules shift. Turkish citizens living in Turkey are covered compulsorily, while professional guidance says a foreign resident who is not working may apply to join only after holding a residence permit for more than a year, and only if another country’s social security does not already cover them. For a non-working foreign resident, private cover is what bridges that first year.

Premiums the employer pays to SGK

The GSS premium is split between the two sides: the employer pays its own part and withholds the employee’s part from wages, both worked out on premium-liable earnings. In the same monthly filing the employer pays into the other SGK branches, which cover disability, old-age and survivors’ pensions, short-term insurance and unemployment insurance. Those branches are social security, not health benefits, even though they travel with GSS.

Rates have moved recently, so get current GSS figures from SGK or your payroll provider before you set a budget.

Complementary and full private health insurance

Many private hospitals in Turkey contract with SGK and charge a capped difference fee (fark ücreti) on top of what SGK pays. Complementary health insurance (tamamlayıcı sağlık sigortası) exists to pay that fee for people who already have SGK cover. Insurers’ product pages describe it as working only where the hospital, the doctor and the specialty are all SGK-contracted, and as sold in hospital network tiers, so the tier picked decides which private hospitals are in reach.

Full private health insurance (özel sağlık sigortası) reaches private hospitals more broadly, including ones outside the SGK network. Insurers present both products as employee benefits, and both sit on top of GSS.

Turkish tax practitioners write that private health premiums paid for an employee can be deducted from the wage tax base within set limits. Before you add a plan, ask a local adviser or tax professional how those limits apply to your payroll.

Insurance Law 5684 keeps cover local

Article 15 of Insurance Law No. 5684 requires the insurable interests of residents that are located in Turkey to be insured in Turkey, with insurance companies operating there. The exceptions are narrow: export and import cargo, certain financed aircraft and ships, ship liability, life assurance, and personal accident, sickness, health and motor cover limited to time spent abroad. The President may widen that list.

Law-firm guidance adds that a foreign insurer may operate in Turkey only through a local company or a Turkish branch, and the sector answers to the national insurance supervisor, SEDDK. Read with its exceptions, the law generally points health cover for an employee living in Turkey to insurers operating there, with cover from abroad limited to time outside the country unless a fronting or local-insurer arrangement is used. The insurer has to confirm what it can write.

Where an international plan fits

GSS is compulsory for 4/a employees, so an international plan cannot stand in for it, and the insurance law generally keeps a plan from abroad away from day-to-day care at home. Without a fronting or local-insurer arrangement, international cover mainly serves the time a Turkey-based employee spends outside the country, such as business trips and work abroad.

Any wider private layer for care inside Turkey would come from an insurer operating there. Whether a particular arrangement can be written for a resident is for the insurer to confirm.

Hiring without a Turkish company

EOR providers describe the usual route for a US company with no Turkish entity: an employer of record (EOR) becomes the legal employer, registers the employee with SGK and pays the monthly premiums. Hiring guides note that a foreign national’s work permit must be sponsored by a Turkish employer, so a non-Turkish hire needs an EOR or an entity of your own.

A genuine independent contractor is not registered by the client and looks after their own SGK status and private cover. Our page on EOR and contractor health coverage abroad sets the routes side by side, and insurance changes for remote teams covers the US policies worth reviewing, such as employment practices liability.

Requesting an introduction for your Turkey team

Mithril1 is not a health insurer and does not compare or quote health plans. What we can do is introduce you to a benefits partner that works on international and remote-team health cover, and the partner and the insurer then decide eligibility, plans and pricing.

Use the quote form on this page to tell us how many people work for you in Turkey, how each is engaged (EOR, own entity or contractor), whether they travel abroad for work, and which family members should be included. We will send it on to the partner. For the surrounding region, read our pages on Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East and Africa overview, the guide to international health insurance for remote employees and the employee benefits hub.

A few useful answers

Common questions

Is health insurance compulsory for employees in Turkey?

Yes. A worker under an employment contract is insured under section 4/a of Law No. 5510 once the employer registers them with SGK, and the GSS premium is paid through payroll.

What does complementary health insurance cover in Turkey?

It pays the difference fee that SGK-contracted private hospitals charge on top of what SGK pays, and only where the hospital, doctor and specialty are all SGK-contracted.

Can an international plan from abroad cover an employee who lives in Turkey?

Generally only for time spent outside Turkey, unless a fronting or local-insurer arrangement is used, and the insurer has to confirm what it can write. Insurance Law No. 5684 keeps a resident’s insurable interests in Turkey with insurers operating there, and health cover limited to time abroad is one of the exceptions.

Who registers the employee with SGK if we have no Turkish entity?

An employer of record. EOR providers say the EOR becomes the legal employer, registers the employee with SGK and pays the monthly premiums.

How does Mithril1 help with a hire in Turkey?

Mithril1 can put you in touch with a benefits partner whose work is health cover for international and remote teams. Tell us about your Turkey team on the quote form, and the partner and the insurer handle eligibility, plans and pricing.

International Health Insurance for Remote Employees in Turkey