Public healthcare institutions have reduced the amount of patient contribution fees. Following this decision, inflation expectations started to be revised downward.

The Social Security Institution (SSI) made changes in the healthcare application communiqué. The amount of contribution fees to be applied in physician and dentist examinations was determined by the communiqué. Economists began to lower their February inflation forecasts to below 3%. The patient contribution fee amount had increased in January in state and university hospitals, causing a positive impact of over 0.5 points on annual inflation. Economists calculated that the effect would continue in February and March, raising the total impact to 1.5 percentage points annually.

HOW DID INFLATION EXPECTATIONS CHANGE? Following the reduction of the contribution fee, it is predicted that the total effect will be 0.4-0.8 points lower than the previous estimate. Economists started to lower their monthly inflation forecast for February, which they had predicted to be close to 4%, to below 3%. Economists also mentioned that there will be a process for the refund of the paid amounts, indicating that the effect seen in January could be downwardly revised, stating that if this revision does not happen quickly, a decrease in the healthcare category could be observed on a monthly basis in February.

STEP BACK IN HEALTH CONTRIBUTION FEES According to the healthcare application communiqué published in the Official Gazette dated February 23, the patient examination contribution fee in training and research hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health, district polyclinics, state, and foundation university hospitals was reduced from 45 lira to 20 lira. There were no changes made to the patient examination contribution fee amount of 50 lira in second and third level private healthcare service providers. The patient examination contribution fee paid by citizens had increased by 233% in state hospitals and 543% in education and city hospitals from mid-January. With today’s decision, most of these increases in state and university hospitals have been refunded.