By SUSANNE FOWLER
| February 6, 2012, 12:58 pm1
There’s some potentially good news for the thousands of overseas nationals living in Turkey and confused about their legal and health-care status. The Sosyal Guvenlik Kurumu, or Social Security Institution, has scheduled a meeting with overseas diplomats in Ankara for Thursday, Feb. 9, to clarify the new universal health insurance mandate.
The U.S. Embassy posted word of the meeting, saying that its officials previously had met with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the S.G.K., and had submitted written questions about submitted written questions”>the new requirements. The Turkish officials did not provide immediate answers, the U.S. Embassy said, though they scheduled the Thursday meeting.
The new law appeared to require foreigners with residence permits in Turkey to register and pay for national health insurance by the end of last month, or face a fine. British diplomats said U.K. citizens were exempt, and callers to the U.S. citizens services offices were told that the deadline had been extended through the end of this month. Many residents who tried to register were initially turned away. But during the past week, some Rendezvous readers have reported being able to fill out a form at their local S.G.K. office using their residence permits and a Turkish I.D. number, but that this was just one step in a complicated process. Progress may also have been slowed by the snowstorm closed many government offices.
Has anyone been able to actually complete the process? Or are most of you taking a wait-and-see approach?
via Turkey Insurance Requirement Update – NYTimes.com.
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