The neoliberal structural adjustment policies in Turkey moved on to a new phase with the Health Transformation Program (HTP) that came into effect in 2003. In this study, 5,002 people, who used the services of the public hospitals in Istanbul, participated in a face-to-face survey to find out the impact of the HTP on the public's understanding of the welfare state and also the impact on their opinions over the healthcare services offered by the state. The data were classified into two topics: First, the transformation of the welfare state and second, the adequacy of the public healthcare services. Interestingly, the participants took a much more explicit stance against the neoliberal transformation of the welfare state than against the adequacy of the public healthcare service provision. The primary purpose of this research was to expose this paradox.
Akgül Yılmaz, G. – Ataer, M. Y. – Nalbant Efe, G. (2018): Health Services Satisfaction Survey after the Health Transformation Programme: Istanbul Case. Marmara Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, 40(2): 347–369 (in Turkish).
Çelikay, F. – Gümüş, E. (2011): Empirical Analysis of Transformation in Health. Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi, 66(3): 55–92 (in Turkish).
Dahl, E. – Arntzen, A. – Giæver, Ø. (2017): Welfare State and Health Inequalities under Economic Recession: Introduction. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 45(18_suppl): 3–8.
Dahlgren, G. (2008): Neoliberal Reforms in Swedish Primary Health Care: For Whom and for What Purpose? International Journal of Health Services, 38(4): 697–715.
Dayıoğlu, N. (2022): Assessing the Healthconomic Crisis: A Case from Turkey. Lectio Socialis, 6(2). (in press).
De Vogli, R. (2011): Neoliberal Globalisation and Health in a Time of Economic Crisis. Social Theory and Health, 9(4): 311–325.
Demirci, B. (2012): Transformation in the Organisational and Financial Set-up of the Health Care System in Turkey – Its Repercussions and Similarities with the English Model. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
Dincă, G. – Dincă, M. S. – Andronic, M. L. (2020): The Efficiency of the Healthcare Systems in EU Countries – A DEA Analysis. Acta Oeconomica, 70(1): 19–36.
Erus, B. – Yakut-Cakar, B. – Cali, S. – Adaman, F. (2015): Health Policy for the Poor: An Exploration on the Take-Up of Means-Tested Health Benefits in Turkey. Social Science and Medicine, 130: 99–106.
İpek, E. (2019): Determinants of out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure in Turkey: Unconditional Quantile Regression. Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, 14(2): 409–420.
Koçak, O. – Tiryaki, D. (2011): The Importance of Health Policies in the Welfare State Mentality and the Evaluation of Changing Health Policies: A Survey from Yalova. Istanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 10(19): 55–88.
Konuralp, E. – Bicer, S. (2021): Putting the Neoliberal Transformation of Turkish Healthcare System and Its Problems into a Historical Perspective. Review of Radical Political Economics, 53(4): 654-674.
Kozuń-Cieślak, G. (2020): Is the Efficiency of the Healthcare System Linked to the Country’s Economic Performance? Beveridgeans versus Bismarckians. Acta Oeconomica, 70(1): 1–17.
Ministry of Health (2017): Health Statistics Yearbook. Ankara: Sağlık Bakanlığı.
Nelson, K. – Tøge, A. G. (2017): Health Trends in the Wake of the Financial Crisis – Increasing Inequalities? Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 45(18_Suppl): 22–29.
Sahin, I. – Ozcan, Y. A. – Ozgen, H. (2011): Assessment of Hospital Efficiency under Health Transformation Program in Turkey. Central European Journal of Operations Research, 19(1): 19–37.
Seçtim, H. (2019): An Evaluation on the Health Transformation Program. Management and Political Sciences Review, 1(1): 117–133.
Sulku, S. N. (2012): The Health Sector Reforms and the Efficiency of Public Hospitals in Turkey: Provincial Markets. The European Journal of Public Health, 22(5): 634–638.
Toprak, D. (2019): Comparative Analysis of Health Expenditures in Turkey. Ekonomi Bilimleri Dergisi, 11(1): 24–38.
TURKSTAT (Turkish Statistical Institute, TUIK) (2019): Life Satisfaction Survey. Ankara.
Wendt, C. – Kohl, J. – Mischke, M. – Pfeifer, M. (2010): How Do Europeans Perceive Their Healthcare System? Patterns of Satisfaction and Preference for State Involvement in the Field of Healthcare. European Sociological Review, 26(2): 177–192.
Wendt, C. – Mischke, M. – Pfeifer, M. (2011): Welfare States and Public Opinion: Perceptions of Healthcare Systems, Family Policy and Benefits for the Unemployed and Poor in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
World Bank (1987): Financing Health Services in Developing Countries: An Agenda for Reform. Washington, DC.