Visit public healthcare while waiting for KELA

[farfaraway]

My current situation is that my wife has just come to Finland, we came to Maistraatti 2 weeks ago to get a new personal identity code for my wife. It has been 3 weeks and we haven't heard anything from Maistraatti yet, so I assume that they are still processing her application. Because she doesn't have a personal identity code yet, she can't apply for a KELA card. Applying for a KELA card would probably take another 2 weeks. So I expect that she won't get her KELA card anytime soon.

She is having some problems with her health (due to different weather), we want to visit a public healthcare but I am not sure about the fee since she is not covered by KELA yet. I am the only one covered by KELA at the moment. Can we come to the public healthcare, pay the normal fee and reclaim it after she has her KELA card? (Assuming that KELA accepts her application)

[farfaraway]

My current situation is that my wife has just come to Finland, we came to Maistraatti 2 weeks ago to get a new personal identity code for my wife. It has been 3 weeks and we haven't heard anything from Maistraatti yet, so I assume that they are still processing her application. Because she doesn't have a personal identity code yet, she can't apply for a KELA card. Applying for a KELA card would probably take another 2 weeks. So I expect that she won't get her KELA card anytime soon.

She is having some problems with her health (due to different weather), we want to visit a public healthcare but I am not sure about the fee since she is not covered by KELA yet. I am the only one covered by KELA at the moment. Can we come to the public healthcare, pay the normal fee and reclaim it after she has her KELA card? (Assuming that KELA accepts her application)

don't they hand over those personal identification number along with residence permit these days?

If you are covered by Kela, I think your wife is also covered from the day she entered Finland, the card may take long to come but I believe the coverage has already established.

When you visit public health you can politely say that Kela card is missing and have applied for new one and its on the way, this would work if you already had PIN as that's what they ask.

As per kela website only private health service visits are reimbursed http://www.kela.fi/web/en/reimbursement ... -treatment

Thank you for your response. I will visit the public healthcare tomorrow

We did check the small checkbox to get the personal identification number along with the residence permit but for some mysterious reasons, the permit card comes without the personal identification number. Since my wife didn't come to Finland immediately, we didn't really care about that. My personal identification number was issued 5 minutes after I submitted the form 2 years ago, so I thought it would be fast this time.

[farfaraway]

Apparently, the hospital does not accept that my wife is waiting for KELA. The bill is gonna be crazy

Maistraatti is still processing her personal identification code, not sure why it takes so long (nearly 1 month now)

[betelgeuse]

Apparently, the hospital does not accept that my wife is waiting for KELA. The bill is gonna be crazy

At least I don't think they will ask you to pay on the spot.

Maistraatti is still processing her personal identification code, not sure why it takes so long (nearly 1 month now)

For people reading this it's worth nothing that Vero is faster to give the identity code.

[Flossy1978]

Why did you go to the hospital?

Go to a private doctor like Mehiläinen. You have to pay, so I don't think you need to go to hospital, or the "er" if you went there. You'll get in easily and quickly if you go private.