OBJECTIVES: Turkiye follows low price policy for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The aim of this study is to analyze the change in the Social Security Institution(SGK) and General Health Insurance(GHI) budgets in Turkiye between 2019-2020-2021 and the factors affecting this change.

METHODS: The data of the study was obtained from the data published for the year 2021 on the official websites of the SGK and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. The analysis was conducted via Microsoft Excel. Within the scope of the study, the number of applications made to state, university and private hospitals, the number of invoices, the number of prescriptions, the total SGK budget and the actual health expenditures were determined for the years 2019-2020-2021 and the changes between them were analyzed.

RESULTS: According to the analysis, number of applications decreased by 35% in 2020 compared to 2019 , while amount of application invoices remained almost constant. Number of applications increased by 20% in 2021 compared to 2020, while amount of application invoices increased by 38%. While number of prescriptions decreased by 15% from 2019 to 2020, amount of prescription invoices increased by 19%. In 2021, number of prescriptions increased by 19% and amount of prescription invoices increased by 26% compared to 2020. When health expenditures and collected premiums by SGK are examined, it is seen that there were 11 billion TL, 27 billion TL and 13 billion TL budget surplus in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The analysis showed that SGK`s premium incomes and health expenditures gives a budget surplus in recent years. The highest budget surplus was belonged to 2020 as the COVID pandemic year. It is seen that the low-price policy in pharmaceuticals and medical devices is serving a saving a budget surplus for SGK.