"Premium debts for General Health Insurance before 2015 are completely erased."

According to the bill that includes regulations related to General Health Insurance (GSS), unpaid GSS premiums prior to January 1, 2015, as well as the collection of ancillary receivables such as late fees and delay increases will be waived.

With the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law and the Bill for Amendments to Some Laws, which was accepted in the TBMM Health, Family, Labor, and Social Affairs Commission, changes are being made to the relevant legislation. Accordingly, the current practice will continue for the monthly calculations of insured individuals employed by one or more employers under a service contract for the period before October 2008. Candidates who are subjected to basic military training to be appointed as non-commissioned officers in non-commissioned officer vocational schools, candidates who are subjected to police training in police vocational training centers to be appointed as police officers, and candidates who are subjected to basic military training to be appointed as officers and non-commissioned officers in the Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy, as well as faculties and vocational schools, will be eligible for orphan pensions, and their orphan pensions will not be cut. Male children who receive monthly payments under the law or who will gain the right to a pension after the law comes into effect will receive monthly payments during their second undergraduate and graduate registrations.

REGULATION ON OLD AGE PENSION

Insured individuals whose insurance started before December 31, 2008 (inclusive) and who are employed by one or more employers under a service contract, with a work capacity loss rate of 40 to 49 percent, will benefit from old age pensions with 18 years of insurance duration and 4,100 days of premium payments, while those with a work capacity loss rate of 50 to 59 percent will benefit with 16 years of insurance duration and 3,700 days of premium payments.

TAX DISCOUNT FOR DISABLED INDIVIDUALS IS BEING EASED

For disabled individuals insured before October 2008, it is aimed to determine retirement processes based on the tax discount certificate according to the loss of work capacity under the law, and for the entire process to be carried out by the Social Security Institution (SGK). Those who benefited from the tax discount due to disability before the effective date will continue to receive their current pensions; for those subjected to control examinations, the work capacity loss rates will be evaluated based on the new health board reports, taking into account the medical legislation in force at the time of the report, rather than the Central Health Board of the Revenue Administration.

NOTIFICATION OBLIGATIONS OF AGRICULTURAL CHAMBERS

With the proposal, it is aimed to eliminate the difficulties experienced in the follow-up and control of notification obligations due to agricultural chambers keeping member records physically in the past and these member record notifications being made on paper by provincial/district agricultural chambers in the initiation and termination processes of the insurance services of insured individuals engaged in agricultural activities.

Accordingly, if the notification obligations regarding the start and end of agricultural activities by the relevant professional organizations are fulfilled outside the legal period before the effective date of this provision or within 6 months after the effective date of this provision, no administrative fines will be applied. Administrative fines applied before the effective date of this provision will be canceled regardless of whether they have become final, but amounts collected will not be refunded or offset.

GSS PREMIUM DEBTS ARE BEING WAIVED

Regulations are being made to alleviate the public debt burdens of insured individuals who cannot pay their GSS premium debts and to facilitate their access to health services. According to the provision, all collections of unpaid GSS premiums prior to January 1, 2015, as well as ancillary receivables such as late fees and delay increases will be waived. Premiums paid for the relevant periods until the date of publication of the provision will not be refunded or offset.

According to the proposal, if the total accrual amount for the treatment services provided under the service procurement contract made with public university health service providers on a lump sum basis in 2024 is lower than the lump sum contract amount by December 31, 2024, the difference will be canceled. The canceled amount will be covered by the budget allocated for this purpose by the Ministry.

PRIME DISCOUNT FOR THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR

For workplaces operating in the manufacturing sector, a 5-point discount will be provided from the insurance premiums they will pay to the Institution under conditions such as submitting the monthly summary and premium service declaration within the legal period, paying premiums within the legal period, having no premium debt to SGK throughout Turkey, if there is a debt, it must be restructured/deferral and installment payments, regular payments, not employing unregistered insured individuals, and not making false insured notifications. This application will continue until December 31, 2026. The President will be authorized to extend the application period of this provision until December 31, 2027. This provision will be implemented from the beginning of the month in which the law is published.

REGULATIONS FOR WORKER HEALTH CENTERS (ÇASMER)

With the amendment to the Occupational Health and Safety Law, the definition of educational institutions will be expanded. It is also aimed to include the authorization and inspection processes of other institutions and organizations that will be authorized in this field in the regulation.

Other health personnel included in the law but not defined, as well as Worker Health Centers (ÇASMER) authorized to provide occupational health and safety services on behalf of the public, and equipment inspection organizations authorized to perform maintenance or examination, testing, and control to ensure the safe use of equipment are also being defined.

By clearly expressing ÇASMERs, a legal regulation is being made to clearly reveal the position and function of these centers in the organization of occupational health and safety. Thus, it is aimed to ensure that professional services can be delivered to areas where joint health and safety units, which are legal entities of private law, do not enter.

In addition to the existing provision, workplaces with fewer than 10 employees and classified as low-risk can also provide occupational health and safety services by obtaining services from their affiliated public professional organization without having an occupational safety specialist and workplace physician.

PENALTIES FOR WORKPLACES THAT DO NOT TAKE PRECAUTIONS ARE BEING INCREASED

According to the proposal, if deficiencies and disruptions related to occupational health and safety require immediate cessation or pose an emergency and vital danger such as fire, explosion, collapse, chemical leakage, and similar situations, and if the employer does not take the necessary precautions despite the presence of environments that may cause occupational diseases, this situation will be reported to the Ministry's authorized unit by the workplace physician or occupational safety specialist or the management of the joint health and safety unit, and if there is a union representative, to the authorized union representative, or if not, to the employee representative.

The authorization certificate of the joint health and safety unit, which is found not to have made a notification, will be suspended for 6 months, and in case of recurrence, for one year.

Under the law, health reports can be obtained from family physicians and public health service providers, as well as from ÇASMERs, for workplaces with less than 50 employees and classified as low-risk.