Medical insurance: Finnish companies

[raamv]

I am not sure if any insurance company here will provide medical insurance without a Finnish Social security no!!

[Rosamunda]

The requirement for private medical insurance is a new one and the insurance industry was apparently unprepared for it. I think the Min Edu and or the student bodies / universities etc are in discussion with the insurance companies to try and get some kind of an offer. The University you apply to should be able to give you more information.

[hackoff]

from Oulu university of applied acience

Health Insurance Required from Third-Country Nationals

Please note that citizens of non-EU and non-EEA countries are not covered by the Finnish national health insurance. It is therefore extremely important for them to have sufficient insurance coverage of their own before they arrive in Finland.

As of the 1st of September 2007 third-country nationals (non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizens) who will come to Finland to study or for a student exchange are required to have a health insurance if their studies or exchange period will last over three months. This change in the § 46 of the Aliens Act came into force on the 1st of September 2007. The change is based on the so-called student directive of the EU (2004/114/EC). In Finland the requirements of the directive are applied to students referred to in the Aliens Act.

Any student who is a third-country national (is not a citizen of the European Union or a citizen of Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland) and who submits a residence permit application must attach details of his/her comprehensive health insurance cover to his/her residence permit application. Comprehensive insurance cover means insurance which includes the types of treatment and costs that are covered by municipal health care services and the health insurance system.

A student must have health insurance cover issued by a reliable and solvent company or institution when applying for a residence permit. A residence permit cannot be granted without a valid insurance. The insurance has to be valid upon arrival to Finland.

A residence permit cannot be issued for a period exceeding the period of the insurance cover. For further information please see the following Web site: Health Insurance Required from Third-Country Nationals as of 1 September 2007

For studies of less than two years in duration, a student must have private insurance which primarily covers the costs of medical treatment up to 100,000 euros (cost level in 2007).

Where the duration of the studies is two years or more, a student will usually have a home municipality in Finland and is therefore entitled to municipal health care services. In such cases, it is sufficient for the insurance to primarily cover the cost of medicines (in practice the cover extends to doctor’s fees and costs of treatment and examination), up to 30,000 euros (cost level in 2007).

We recommend all foreign students to take out travel insurance before leaving for Finland, as they are responsible for their own accident, illness and property insurance. Travel insurance usually covers also the expenses occurred by using public health care. Please remember to bring a valid insurance policy with you. Finnish insurance companies do not usually grant insurance to foreigners whose stay in Finland can not be considered to be permanent. Students are required to take insurance issued by a reliable and solvent company or institution covering the costs incurred by an illness or an accident as further decided by the competent ministry unless otherwise provided for by a bilateral social security agreement or another international agreement binding in Finland.

you have to get it done in your home country ! as Rammv without a social security number you can not do it here

Cheers

[mrshourula]

I am researching this topic as well and found this information on the Web site of the Student Union of University of Tampere http://www.tamy.fi/en/

Requisite Health Insurance (contributed by Kv-sihteeri, Monday 20 August 2007; updated Thursday, 07 February 2008)

Students from third countries must have health insurance after 1.9.2007
Citizens of third coutries arriving in Finland for the purpose of studying on or after the date of 1.9.2007 are required to have health insurance, if the period of study lasts for more than three months. The requirement is the same for degree-seeking and exchange students.

Third-country national means a person who is not a citizen of either one of the EU countries, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland; students from Quebec, Canada are also exempt from the health insurance requirement.

Health insurance is a requirement for obtaining a residence permit for studies. The health insurance must be valid upon entry to Finland. Students applying for an extention of their residence permit must also have the health insurance. The type of health insurance policy depends on the duration of studies in Finland, which, in turn, affects the right to domicile in Finland.

(A) Third-country nationals studying in Finland for less than two years
A student who enters Finland to study for less than two years is not usually granted the right to domicile, i.e., a home municipality in Finland, and therefore is not entitled to municipal health care services. Consequently, the student must have private insurance which covers costs of medical treatment up to 100,000 euros

(B) Third-country nationals studying in Finland for at least two years
A student who enters Finland to study for at least two years is usually granted the right to domicile, i.e., a home municipality in Finland, and is therefore entitled to municipal health care services. Consequently, the student must have private insurance which covers costs of medical treatment up to 30,000 euros (primarily pharmaceutical costs). In order to be granted a home municipality in Finland, a student must register at the local registration office (Maistraatti). Requirements for the right to domicile are that the student has a residence permit at least for the period of one year and the duration of studies in Finland is at least two years (Please contact your department in order to have the document in question).

NOTE: The right to use Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) does not exclude a student from having to take out the health insurance. Health insurance must be obtained prior to applying for a resident permit. The insurance must be valid for the duration of studies. For further information, check Finnish Immigration Office <www.migri.fi>

The insurance policy must be issued by a reliable and financially-sound company or institution. Foreign countries and international insurance companies offer a range of insurances. The cost of insurance for one year is approximately 1000 euros. Below are links to some international insurance companies which have come to our attention. Please contact them directly for further information on prices and coverage:

International Student Insurance http://www.internationalstudentinsurance.com
International Health Insurance http://www.ihi.com
BUPA http://www.bupa.co.uk
MultiNational Underwriters http://www.mnui.com
Ingonord http://www.ingonord.fi (covers to 80,000 euros)

[Shears82]

This is all great information took me a while to read all these post but it was worth it.
thanks for the info..

[M_a_x]

check this link:

http://www.swisscare.ch/plan_wd.html

just heard as if they are comparatively cheaper!

[raamv]

Make sure that they cover Finland and that too for medical expenses! and it Should satisfy he Finnish Authorities!!

[zam]

Check also the institutions you are applying to/have been accepted to/are studying at if they have made a deal with a Finnish insurance company. Things seem to evolve slowly and also some Finnish insurance companies can now grant health insurance to foreign students IF the policy holder is a Finnish institution who insures their students and charges the insurance fees from the students.

[drangina]

Hi i am new to this forum.
I have come here for my masters studies which is 2 to 3 years of duration. I am from Non-EU country. I came here last year and at that time i need to have insurance coverage. Now i want to extend my residence permit for one more year.

I fulfill the clause here and i am registered to the home municipality in Finland.

(B) Third-country nationals studying in Finland for at least two years
A student who enters Finland to study for at least two years is usually granted the right to domicile, i.e., a home municipality in Finland, and is therefore entitled to municipal health care services. Consequently, the student must have private insurance which covers costs of medical treatment up to 30,000 euros (primarily pharmaceutical costs). In order to be granted a home municipality in Finland, a student must register at the local registration office (Maistraatti). Requirements for the right to domicile are that the student has a residence permit at least for the period of one year and the duration of studies in Finland is at least two years (Please contact your department in order to have the document in question).

If i will apply for extension of my residence permit this time will i need to have Insurance Coverage?
Thank you.

[mrshourula]

(B) Third-country nationals studying in Finland for at least two years
A student who enters Finland to study for at least two years is usually granted the right to domicile, i.e., a home municipality in Finland, and is therefore entitled to municipal health care services. Consequently, the student must have private insurance which covers costs of medical treatment up to 30,000 euros (primarily pharmaceutical costs).
If i will apply for extension of my residence permit this time will i need to have Insurance Coverage?
Thank you.

If I understand the policy, insurance is always required of third-country nationals; it is the amount of coverage that depends on time in country. Less than two years, coverage up to 100,000 euros is required; two or more years, coverage up to 30,000 euros is required.


Studying in Finland
Does a student also require health insurance when applying for an extension of residence permit? Must insurance cover be arranged before an applicant can apply for a residence permit?

The health insurance requirement for students applies both to first residence permit applications and to extensions. From 1st September, 2007, citizens of all third countries applying for a residence permit on the basis of study must attach details of health insurance cover to their residence permit application. A residence permit will not be granted to an applicant failing to provide details of health insurance cover when submitting an application.

Students’ Health Insurance
Any student who submits a residence permit application on or after 1.9.2007 must attach details of their comprehensive health insurance cover to their application. Comprehensive insurance cover means insurance which includes the types of treatment and costs that are covered by municipal health care services and the health insurance system.

It is a precondition for obtaining a residence permit that the student has valid health insurance cover with a reliable and solvent company or institution.

For studies of less than two years in duration, a student must have private insurance which primarily covers the costs of medical treatment up to 100,000 euros (cost level in 2007).

Where the duration of the studies is two years or more, a student will usually have a home municipality in Finland and is therefore entitled to municipal health care services. In such cases, it is sufficient for the insurance to primarily cover the cost of medicines (in practice the cover extends to doctor’s fees and costs of treatment and examination), up to 30,000 euros (cost level in 2007).

A student must have insurance cover when applying for a residence permit as without it a residence permit cannot be granted. In principle a residence permit cannot be issued for a period exceeding the period of the insurance cover.

[blackjazzy]

Hi, Finnish migration office recommend also the company SWISSCARE as accepted. Finnish embassies around the world accept the companies who are agreed by the Finnish migration office.

Swisscare is very popular (Only EUR 448 without General Limitation and full package with third party liability and more...) and you can pay with credit card or bank transfer. I'm from Iran and we dont have credit card. In this case, I paid with bank transfer and works well. (With credit card it is in fact very fast. 3 minutes and that's all).

Go here on http://www.swisscare-intl.com

or the direct link to the Finland plan : http://www.swisscare-intl.com/swisscare ... nland.html

It was very easy to obtain VISA with this insurance company.

[Violette]

Need help please...

OK... I understand that if you are going to be studying for a year or less you should have your own medical coverage. If you are a student for more than one year say, the University you are attending supplies insurance coverage plus other coverage...correct?

What if you get your resident permit, how long does it take to get coverage for medical,and drugs etc.

If one is a student, a person will not be needing a resident permit, but only proof that they have been accepted at whatever school ...right?
and that's why they need their own private insurance coverage... because they will receive no other coverage, unless they are studying for the full 3-4 year term?

Ok, now...it would be wiser for me to wait until I am actually accepted at a certain University before I begin any paperwork on Finnish citizenship by declaration (previously discussed somewhere in forum)...unless I plan on staying forever that is... which is always a possibility. I know I don't need that proof of citizenship, but I'd still l'ke to have it.

Ok, when I receive the proof of studying "thingy" and then once I arrive in Helsinki I go to the police station and get what?... sorry I've forgotten

What sort of paperwork will I need to rent an apartment?

A question from reading the post above. If I am a Finnish citizen and planning to study over there, in order to get a residency permit I need to show them proof of insurance coverage for the length of my studies? Ok so do I show them that the University is going to cover me or what?
I mean I can't possibly show that I have four years worth of insurance from a Canadian company, it doesn't make sense and I don't think it can be done...


Step by step instructions would be most appreciated. Kiitos...

[Rip]

OK... I understand that if you are going to be studying for a year or less you should have your own medical coverage. If you are a student for more than one year say, the University you are attending supplies insurance coverage plus other coverage...correct?

No, Universities do not offer medical insurance here.

What if you get your resident permit, how long does it take to get coverage for medical,and drugs etc.

If one gets a residence permit on some other grounds than being a student, one needd to apply for the medical coverage from KELA. Typically it will be considered to have started from the date your permit was issued or the day you arrived in Finland, whichever of those two is later.

If you are a student, then having a valid insurance was a condition for getting the residence permit in the first place

If one is a student, a person will not be needing a resident permit,

If you are not an EU citizen, yes you do need.

Ok, now...it would be wiser for me to wait until I am actually accepted at a certain University before I begin any paperwork on Finnish citizenship by declaration (previously discussed somewhere in forum)...unless I plan on staying forever that is... which is always a possibility. I know I don't need that proof of citizenship, but I'd still l'ke to have it.

If you were a Finnish citizen you would not need to bother either with Migri or police. For citizens the right to live here is a fundamental constitutional right. No further permits are required or issued for that. You would just register at the local magistrate office (like everybody is required to do here when moving from one town to another and then visit a Kela office for the Kela card. I think in this case you'd likely even be entitled to the (for citizens and other long term residents) standard monetary student benefits.

There is special for students only cheap housing available (http://www.soa.fi/ ). If you rent from private market it's not really question of paper work but that making the prospective landlord to believe that he will his money from you in time and no excess problems. Finnish passport might very well be helpful in that.

[Pursuivant]

Ok, now...it would be wiser for me to wait until I am actually accepted at a certain University before I begin any paperwork on Finnish citizenship by declaration

Just an observation - are you aware the old "dual citizenship" declaration process is closed and that you need to fulfill the more stringent rules now in 2010? The citizenship process can take up to 2 years you know unless you're a former Finnish citizen? There is a "returning immigrant" RP as well if you have native Finns in the family tree, but I wouldn't be counting on that necessarily either. If you just "show up" you won't be allowed to do anything before your application is processed, so thats another snag. So I'd do plan a) paperwork in now and b) get the insurance&study place and student RP process going so if you get accepted you can "go" and collect instead of "whine" while the dice is tossed. If your citizenship issue is clear, you need to apply for a passport and then you won't need to go through half the hassle - you're going to be slightly in limbo though at first with KELA and such and by university standards you are "foreign" as they count that by education.

Sorry if this has been discussed before - I didn't "stalk" your posts

[Violette]

I think this is what I was referring to.... it's from "Helsingin Kuvataideakatemi"

HEALTH CARE SERVICE

The Finnish Student Health Care Service (FSHS) provides preventive health care, medical care, dental care and mental health services for student union members. Bring your student card or study certificate with you when visiting FSHS.
Information on the medical and health services of the FSHS is available from the FSHS, tel. 405 051, and on the web at http://www.yths.fi.

New Students

FSHS invites new students for a health inspection and an oral and dental examination during the first or second study year. The inspection is voluntary and the tests are free of charge.


Doesn't quite cover the insurance aspect but it's still something.