Possible move to Finland from UK...Insulin cost (diabetes)?

Damien Levs · Post by **Damien Levs** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 12:13 am

Hi,
I am finding this information really difficult to obtain. Me (The Englishman) and my Girlfriend (Finnish Nationality) are deciding whether to stay here in England or make the jump to Finland. I'm not saying this will happen in a few months. But, As I have diabetes I am wondering on what the costs will be to obtain Insulin and Blood Glucose test strips? Not to mention my 6 monthly visit to the nurse for long term Blood tests and general check overs. This is the only thing that is stumping us on getting an idea for money. If anyone has any information on this, it would be of incredible help.

Thanks in adv....

PS. We are not married, so KELA probably wont offer any discount.

**Sponsor:**

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:26 am

Damien Levs wrote:As I have diabetes I am wondering on what the costs will be to obtain Insulin and Blood Glucose test strips? Not to mention my 6 monthly visit to the nurse for long term Blood tests and general check overs. This is the only thing that is stumping us on getting an idea for money. If anyone has any information on this, it would be of incredible help.

Diabetesliitto (Finnish Diabetes Association, main website)
Finnish Diabetes Association (The English part of the above-mentioned website... does not amount to as much as the Finnish section!)
Discussion forum maintained by the Finnish Diabetes Association
Diabeetikon sosiaaliturva (Social Security 101 for those with diabetes)
Medical supplies (see the PDF p. 10 for examples on reimbursements)
Reimbursements for medical expenses (Ditto, but the linked PDF is for 2010? Maybe they forgot to update it to the 2012 version which can be found in the above link.)
Required certificate from GP
Moving to Finland (KELA)
Medical treatment when moving to Finland (KELA)
Two PDFs with lots of detailed price information (You would probably want to check out at least these)

Damien Levs wrote:PS. We are not married, so KELA probably wont offer any discount.

Being in the Finnish social security system is not based on marriage but permanent residence. Marriage is only one of the ways how you could gain that status. See the above-mentioned links. (See here as well.) And you’re an EU citizen so you should get something with your European Health Insurance Card, too.

I think those with type 1 diabetes get a (near?) 100% coverage from KELA, excluding excess... but better sign up on the above-mentioned discussion forum and post a question there to get some practical answers. And get your gf to read/translate those Finnish parts for you!

Logic · Post by **Logic** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 8:32 am

Without Kela you won't be able to afford the costs, they're extremely high. For example one pack of levemir flexpen without coverage costs €230.

Damien Levs · Post by **Damien Levs** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:30 pm

Jukka Thanks so much for those links...I'll be sure to further my research. I do have Type 1 Diabetes. I forgot to mention that.

Logic Thanks for the insight. If this happens to be the case, it would be cheaper to fly back to England every 6 months and pick up a 6 monthly supply

That of course would be very impractical.

interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:36 pm

PS. We are not married, so KELA probably wont offer any discount.

If you have been living together for two or more years before moving to Finland, and you are able to document your cohabitation properly, that should equal being married in KELAs eyes.

Arch Stanton · Post by **Arch Stanton** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 3:57 pm

what the costs will be to obtain Insulin and Blood Glucose test strips? Not to mention my 6 monthly visit to the nurse for long term Blood tests and general check overs.

Hi, makes no difference if you are married. You will never have to pay anything for blood glucose strips, needles etc.
All you will pay for is the medicine prescription and this will be less than 20€ per year. Medicine is free through KELA but you will have to fill out a few forms (KELA B declaration or something like this) and run around between doctors and KELA a few times first. Make sure you have enough to keep you going for a few weeks before you move here.

With regards to 6 monthly checks, this is not standard in Finland although I guess you can book yourself in with the nurse if you would like to. 12 month checks seem to be standard. You will not pay anything for this. If you want to see the doctor (not the diabetic nurse) then you will be covered by your normal doctor costs of around 35€ per year.

Annual retinopathy checks are not standard here either like in the UK so you would have to book yourself in for this yourself and the cost is around 60€ per time if I remember correctly.
In general the care is not quite as good here for Diabetes as the UK but it is still excellent and essentially free of charge.

Hope this info is helpful. PM me if you need further info.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:32 pm

Getting on KELA is not unlike getting a National insurance Number in the UK, and I can tell you it requires also a whole lot of paperwork. The thing is, as long as the magistrate registeres you into the computer as a resident and you get the police paper,KELA also wants its own "reason". And your GF also needs to apply to get back on, as they do boot you off KELA when you move parts foreign.

Damien Levs · Post by **Damien Levs** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:28 pm

A lot of insightful advice guys...Thank you. We have been living together for nearly one year now and we are thinking realistically, it would be at least one more year. More likely two before we can make the jump.

Many thanks.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:59 pm

Damien Levs wrote: Logic Thanks for the insight. If this happens to be the case, it would be cheaper to fly back to England every 6 months and pick up a 6 monthly supply That of course would be very impractical.

If you are resident in Finland then you probably won't be able to dash back to GB and get a prescription on the NHS. You sort of have to decide which place is going to be your home and which system you want to be in (if you even have that choice). You can't be in both. And living in Finland, but outside the system, is a bit difficult.

Usually people decide to reside in the country where they work. If you are not working but get into the Finnish system via your gf - you would still lose your benefits in the UK.

At least that's how it worked for us. I moved here with my (Finnish) SO and got into the system even though I wasn't working when we arrived. But I could no longerbe a beneficiary of the "Secu" in France at that point.

Adrian42 · Post by **Adrian42** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:49 am

Damien Levs wrote:This is the only thing that is stumping us on getting an idea for money.

I'm surprised you are not more concerned regarding getting a job here.

Which would also en passant resolve the healthcare question.

How is the situation in your job field in Finland?

And most important:
Are you already speaking Finnish fluently? If you are well-qualified in IT it is OK if you are not speaking Finnsh fluently (but still excludes you from more than half of the jobs), in all other job fields you will have a hard time finding anything if you don't use the one or two years before your move for learning Finnish as good as possible.

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