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Health care in Turkey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Healthcare in Turkey consists of a mix of public and private health services. Turkey introduced universal health care in 2003.[1] Known as Universal Health Insurance Genel Sağlık Sigortası, it is funded by a tax surcharge on employers, currently at 5%.[1] Public-sector funding covers approximately 75.2% of health expenditures.[1]
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Despite universal health care, total expenditure on health as a share of GDP is the lowest among OECD countries at 6.3% of GDP, much lower than the OECD average of 9.3%.[1] Median age in Turkey is 30 years compared to 43.9 average in EU countries. Aging population is the prime reason for higher healthcare expenditure in Europe.[2] Life expectancy is 78.5 years, compared with the EU average of 81 years.[1] Turkey has a high obesity rate, with 29.5% of its adult population obese.