Terveys

If you are a Permanent Resident of Finland you are covered by health insurance. This means that Kela pays a share of your medical expenses. You can, for instance, claim a refund from Kela in relation to many Medicines.

In Finland, municipalities organise public health services for their residents. Most public health services are cheap for customers, because they are financed through tax revenue.

You are entitled to use public health services in Finland if you have a municipality of residence (kotikunta) in Finland. The right to a municipality of residence depends on the following matters:

• the country from which you have come to Finland
• your reason for coming to Finland (e.g. work, studying)
• whether you are moving to Finland permanently or staying here temporarily
• if you are staying in Finland temporarily, the length of your stay in Finland

If you fall ill, first contact your own health centre (terveysasema) where you can make an appointment with a general practitioner or nurse. Health centres often also have a laboratory.

Health insurance also covers some of Private Health Care Expenses.

The Non-Discrimination Act (yhdenvertaisuuslaki) forbids discrimination in recruitment and training. People cannot be discriminated against on the basis of ethnic origin in relation to social services and health care.

Information on the topic in the following languages:

Finnish (pdf)
Swedish (pdf)
English (pdf)
Sami (pdf)
Russian (pdf)
Arabic (pdf)
Somali (pdf)
Spanish (pdf)
French (pdf)

The website of the Ministry of the Interior has a ‘Home in Finland’ guide, which contains information on accommodation, education and social security for immigrants in the following languages:

English
Finnish
Swedish
French
Russian
Serb Croat
Somali
Farsi
Kurdish
Arabic
Albanian
Vietnamese
Dari
Estonian
Basic Language