Medical expense in Finland

tuhandsome · Post by **tuhandsome** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 4:35 pm

Hi all,

I found that this topic is not concerned in our forum , so I tried opening this thread, so that it would make our community become a bit more informative

Can you please advise the fee for each medical 'event' (inc. doctor visit, medicine, test, ...)

We should start with the expense in the most notorious place : Helsinki

Hope that every ne would join!

**Sponsor:**

interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 4:37 pm

This would depend completely on if you are going to the normal health care center (I think it is 11 euros for a visit) or if you are going to a private doctor or to a specialist.

tuhandsome · Post by **tuhandsome** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 4:42 pm

So, can you please list the price of treatment for some 'common' diseases that requires hospitalization in Finland ?
(in case that I need to visit a hospital or a normal health care center ?!

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:50 pm

Well hospital costs the hospital fee, which is somewhere around 25 euros a day... you don't "pay" for treatments, thats the idea of the public system. if you're working your employer takes care of the system and then if you're a student the YTHS was it... and foreign students have insurance to get through the YTHS

Going to a private doctor or dentist is then something different, private clinics sometimes have their price lists on their websites, but if not elsewhere on a billboard when you go in.

Mook · Post by **Mook** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:05 pm

Going to a private doctor costs 40-60 Euros for a visit.

rauginta_kojine · Post by **rauginta_kojine** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:11 pm

interleukin wrote:This would depend completely on if you are going to the normal health care center (I think it is 11 euros for a visit) or if you are going to a private doctor or to a specialist.

The thing i cannot understand until now.
Do finns going to their normal health center to their "family" doctor pay for each visit? I thought the systems is that everything in "normal health centers" were for free..

(I mean not for tourists, but for normal residents or citizens)
Please, let me know it in a smaller details.

richard berman · Post by **richard berman** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:01 pm

Everyone pays the 11€ (but not children , they are 100% free) you pay the 11€ three times during one year , if you visit more than three times , then you don't pay. I went to see a private doctor the other day , I was in her room for 5min , she gave me the bill 70€, and she had mark that I had been on a 20min visit

, I went to the dentist hospital in town the other day and that was 22€ for the visit, and I got a nice cd with some 3D pictures of my jaw. I think the Fins have a great health service , never had a problem.

sokser · Post by **sokser** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:45 am

I hurt my back the other week and because I am a non-EU student I don't go to the public system. I went to Mehiläinen in Turku (b/c my private insurance will reimburse all bills from there) and the bill was 75 euros for a doctor to examine me and to write a prescription.

blaugrau · Post by **blaugrau** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:40 am

sokser wrote:I hurt my back the other week and because I am a non-EU student I don't go to the public system. I went to Mehiläinen in Turku (b/c my private insurance will reimburse all bills from there) and the bill was 75 euros for a doctor to examine me and to write a prescription.

If you are a student, and pay the student union fee, you can also go to the student health centre! They have specialists of all flavour there and it's almost completely free and unrelated to Kela or social insurance, as long as you have paid the student union fee for the year!

http://www.fshs.fi/netcomm/default.asp?strLAN=EN

Generally, my understanding of the Finnish health care system is that if you have a regular job and you get ill, people tend to go to the doctor who's affiliated with their workplace (a company like Mehiläinen or Pulssi or Terveystalo, depending on the employer's contract with them). They would cover all the regular flu stuff and everything that's somehow related to your work capacity. The exact things they cover depends again on the contract with the employers. I had a diabetes test done there but e.g. removing a mole wouldn't be covered. For the things that aren't covered, you can go to the municipal services. Going to the company's doctor doesn't cost you anything.

jpilomia · Post by **jpilomia** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:07 pm

There are 2 things that I learned here:

1 - triple check your travel insurance (sometimes they call it insurance when selling it to you in the rush to get commission but in practice is "assistance", meaning you have to call beforehand to get anything dove even is it is an emergency and they might not reimburse your expenses after all). I had no access to the number when I broke my arm and thought I could get a reimbursment - NOT!

2. If going to a private clinic (I went to my work's clinic, suomen terveystalo), ask thoroughly about the price! With me, same stuff -- 70e for a quick look. And in my case they would have to put my bone back into place which meant a small surgery (no anesthesia included of course) which the doctor told me would cost 450e -- what he didn't tell me was that there were extras to be charged, and after getting out of the operation room, which took roughly 15 minutes, I was presented with a bill of 1700e. So make sure when they give you a price, all is included. This probably happened because something got lost in translation, but you only get to know that after it is done...

BR, Janaina

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:11 pm

well the first issue here is that a "travel insurance" usually doesn't cover "working in another country"... nor "studying in another country".... then again they would cover "being blind drunk and singing karaoke" and spraining your larynx... go figure

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:32 pm

jpilomia wrote:er imeaning you have to call beforehand to get anything dove even is it is an emergency

Lie, blatand lie. I have been only one emergency and "who pays" was last they thought.
My emergency was slipped knife and lot, i mean lot, of blood. I didnt have a change to walk inside when nurses/etc rushed to drag me in and start to inspect what happened. No one asked who pays.

I asked my uncle who were ambulance driver about this and first thing he said "what, i dont understand?"

Of course if your "emergency" was sore thumb or like that then.....

jpilomia · Post by **jpilomia** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:53 pm

Lie, blatand lie. I have been only one emergency and "who pays" was last they thought.

Maybe I wasn't clear on this one: I don't mean the clinic but the insurance company. BR

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:56 pm

jpilomia wrote:
Lie, blatand lie. I have been only one emergency and "who pays" was last they thought.
Maybe I wasn't clear on this one: I don't mean the clinic but the insurance company. BR

Then dont talk about emergency.

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