Job Discussion Forums

[Laura777]

How many of you are happy with your health insurance here in Turkey and does your school cover your needs sufficiently?

Do they offer you additional coverage?

I am extremely unhappy with my coverage provided by my place of employment and remember the good old days of full coverage with dental and vision as well as deductibles. - of course that was in my pre-teaching days and when I was working at a well paid job.


Would you change your job if you were happy with the conditions in your school but NOT your insurance?

[FGT]

Health insurance?

[Laura777]

Okay thats my answer. So what is the deal with the lack of good coverage in this country??

SSK is not great but I have it also. I am trying to get my own coverage and pay out of pocket. But its a bit expensive.

I wondered why we cant get decent coverage? You would think they would want their teachers to be healthy.



.....

[justme]

To me, having SSK was the same as not having insurance at all. It can be such a bureaucratic pain to actually use it, and it doesn't really cover all that much. I avoid SSK hospitals like the plague, maybe because I'm afraid I'll get the plague. I was supposed to go yesterday with the baby to close my maternity leave, and I refused and sent my poor husband. That place is a madhouse of sick people, and it makes me feel guilty because of the crap poor people here have to put up with.

I splashed out on private insurance for me and my son so I could go to good doctors without worrying about the cost. Totally worth it, and I'm happy with my coverage (Yapı Kredi), though I don't have much basis for comparison, as in America I was too poor for private insurance but not quite poor enough for state insurance or Medicaid...

[Laura777]

Hi Justme. Yes I agree the SSK hospitals are too scary.

I went once as my school told me to go for a report. And when there, the help were smoking cigs in the hospital!! I was too stunned to say a word and too ill.

I am going to pay for the private insurance also as I need it and havent a choice.

I worked in the film business in the states and had great coverage. Miss it plenty these days. especially as I am trying to have a baby also.

I would like to get coverage with my mate but we have too many bureaucratic (sp) hurdles to do it.

sigh. You leave and try to start a new life and find that sometimes that what you left behind was indeed a very good life in some aspects. But in others here is the better of the two evils. I am so sad for those who havent a way out as we have meaning we can afford to have good insurance if we choose. Many have to go to those SSK hospitals and dont know of any other options.

[justme]

Definitely get good insurance if you want to have a baby-- you really want to be free to shop around for doctors and English speakers, as the birthing culture here pretty much sucks and most doctors will push you into a high-intervention birth whether you need it or not. Also, I ran into this when I got the Yapı insurance-- they wouldn't cover family planning (birth and pregnancy) for the first year that I had it, so I had to stay on it for a year before renewing it to cover the birth. I think the first half of the pregnancy wasn't covered, and those doctor visits were pretty expensive...

[Laura777]

Just me - I have discovered that they have some pretty old fashioned views on having children, how when and who should or shouldnt.

Doctors who are trained in the west with a degree from a very good university still maintain very old notions on woman and what we can do with our bodies here.

I wish I could afford to visit my doc in the states and get some good advice and help on these topics.

[justme]

The Caesarian rate is upwards of 80% here. Many are elective (docs convince women it's the best way, or the women are scared of the pain and hard work), and a lot of women get pushed into them unnecessarily at the last minute-- more money for the doctor, easier to schedule, faster and easier for the doctor to finish.... Doctors here also love huge episiotomies for first births. Homebirth is considered village-y, and I think can't be done legally by doctors or midwives in Istanbul. If you want a properly natural childbirth, you'll have a hell of time finding anyone to do it, or who will be supportive of you.

There is one foreign-trained midwife here, but unfortunately she's going back to Germany. I was really fierce about having natural childbirth, and my doctor was supportive but I still got intimidated into an induction in the last week when I went 12 days overdue...

Depending how you want to do it, you'll have to do some research to find the kind of doctor and hospital you want. If you can afford to do it in the States (I couldn't-- natural birth starts at $10,000 there, caesarians can be as much as $25,000), do it there, as your choices here are very limited.

There's a lot of info about this on the mymerhaba forum, in the children section...

[Laura777]

Again I ask - why we cant get decent coverage? You would think they would want their teachers to be healthy.

And Would you try to find another job which offered good insurance?

OR is that like finding a needle in a haystack?

[thrifty]

I cannot understand why anyone would think that schools would want their teachers to be healthy.

[tararu]

A lot of Companies here organise deals with insurance agencies to get discounted private insurance. The more people in your company the cheaper your insurance will be. You have to pay, but it is usually a third of what you would normally pay.

[scot47]

Group cover - through your employer etc - is ALWAYS a better deal.

It still amazes me that the US has never managed to introduce a decent comprehensive health care system that everyone can access. And that our Masters in the UKofGB&NI are busily dismantling our NHS.

[tararu]

Yes...the dark side of Capitalism.

[scot47]

Does it have another side ?

[Laura777]

hmmm. Yes I know we do have insurance at my work place but the coverage isnt sufficient. It seems a near death experience is the only thing covered. However if I stay where I am then next year I can have full coverage but I still think it isnt enough.

I want to get Anadolu Sigorta they cover damn near everything and also out of the country health issues.

why would they want me healthy? so I can be a good teacher and teach well??