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The consultancy company, which previously published research reports such as health inflation, production costs in the health sector, and Turkey's most preferred medical faculties, focused on the Social Security Institution data in its latest report. The report, which analyzed three-year SGK data, revealed that SGK General Health Insurance premium revenues increased by 68.25% compared to 2021.

TURKEY — A new report has been added to the reports that shed light on the health economy in Turkey. ECONiX Research, which previously focused on issues such as health inflation, production costs in the health sector, and the pharmaceutical market and operates with its centers in Estonia, Tunisia, and Turkey, in its report titled Turkey Public Health Insurance Expenditures Evaluation Report 2022, reports the Social Security Institution's (SGK) premium income. and expenses, hospital applications and the number of prescriptions.

The research results revealed that SGK General Health Insurance premium income increased by 68.25% in 2022 compared to 2021, while the total SGK General Health Insurance premium income for 2022 was more than 246 billion 308 million TL.

Hospital applications decreased during the pandemic period

In the research, which was carried out by examining the data of SGK and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the number of applications to hospitals, invoice amounts, prescription numbers and prescription invoice amounts were also examined. While a sharp decrease has been observed in hospital applications since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to be seen in our country, it was determined that this decrease was replaced by a large increase in 2022, with the effect of the pandemic decreasing significantly.

Noting that the increase curve that started as of 2021 in the change graph of hospital application bills gained momentum with 2022, Dr. from the ECONiX Research team. Birol Tibet said, “When we look at the number of hospital admissions paid by the SSI, there is an increase of 24.74% in 2022 compared to the previous year. Increases in the number of prescriptions and invoice amount indicate that the cost per prescription has increased by almost half (47.58%).

13.30% Increase in the number of prescriptions paid

Examining the changes in the number of prescriptions and prescriptions paid by the SGK over three years of data, the study noted that the number of prescriptions fluctuated until the middle of 2022 and followed an increasing trend in the second half of 2022. Noting that a steady upward trend was observed in prescription invoice amounts as of July 2022, Dr. Birol Tibet said, “In 2022, compared to 2021, there is a 13.30% increase in the number of drug prescriptions paid by the SGK.”

Budget surplus hits record in 2022

In the Evaluation Report of Turkey's Public Health Insurance Expenditures, SGK premiums and expenditures collected and pharmaceutical and health services budget changes over the years were compared. Accordingly, it was observed that the targeted amount for the pharmaceutical budget in 2022 was exceeded, and 63.8 billion TL less expenditure was made in the health services budget.

Noting that there was a budget deficit until 2015 as a result of the evaluation of premiums collected and health expenditures made within the scope of SSI General Health Insurance (GSS) by years, conducting health economics and market access researches for public and academic institutions in Eastern Europe, Middle East, North Africa and West Asian countries. ECONiX's Research team, Dr. Güvenç Koçkaya, on the other hand, shared his evaluations with the following statements: "The trend of SGK GSS Budget deficit has been broken as of 2015 and the budget surplus has been occurring between the premiums collected and the health expenditures made since 2015. This data was previously published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and presented at scientific congresses. While it is known that the total amount of the budget surplus in 2022 is over 30 billion TL, this figure indicates an increase of 230.30% compared to 2021. There may be many reasons for this, but the important thing is that this budget surplus is based on health economics correctly and efficiently. It is to ensure that it returns to the public health system with a scientific perspective.