Specific healthcare question

[betelgeuse]

Germany spends 3% of GDP more on healthcare, Finland would have to spend 10 billion Euro more per year for getting a German healthcare level.

By your metric of percentage of GDP, US health care is superb. Sure, more money for the Finnish system would help. Currently there are issue with waiting times but, for example, the care from specialists is top notch.

[FinlandGirl]

Germany spends 3% of GDP more on healthcare, Finland would have to spend 10 billion Euro more per year for getting a German healthcare level.

By your metric of percentage of GDP, US health care is superb.

It is possible to get a bad outcome with much money, but that's not the problem in Finland.

Sure, more money for the Finnish system would help. Currently there are issue with waiting times

Median waiting time for a GP visit is 1 month in Helsinki and 3 days in Germany.

but, for example, the care from specialists is top notch.

The care from specialists is top notch in both Finland and Germany, but there is not only less waiting time but it is also far easier to get a referral to a specialist in Germany.
In Germany one might get a referral to a specialist from an GP after an injury where in Finland one might only see a nurse who tells to take Burana.

In Germany the official recommendation is to visit a dentist for a checkup every 6 months, which is free of charge for the patient.

[Piet]

Nice to find a forum for Finland!

My question is a specific one about healthcare in Finland and which I cannot find an answer to when I searched. So I am hoping someone can give me the answer here.

I am considering moving to Finland. I am an EU citizen with an EU country passport. If I move to Finland, I will not be working or needing an income. I will come with a lump sum, with which I plan to buy a home or more than one home and live off the rest of my lump sum.
I may get a pension in the next 5-6 years but it is a state pension and I am not counting on it to give me enough money to live on.

My question is about getting healthcare when I am not working and not claiming any government benefits? What is available to me in my circumstances, to provide for my medical needs that I currently have, including medications and for any future ones?

Finland operates a residency based public health care system. As an EU citizen with sufficient resources you have the right of residence and as such the right to access the public health care system like everyone else.

I assume there is private health insurance. If so, I would appreciate some names or websites to look at, so I can understand what is offered and covered and the costs.

You can get private health insurance from companies like If, OP and LähiTapiola but they will not cover pre-existing conditions. It's also not all encompassing as many treatments are only available from the public system. The main benefit of private insurance is faster access.

I am quite happy to use state healthcare if it is at least good (I read this is so in Finland) but I don't know if I would qualify.
Plus I would not be willing to undergo any kind of lengthy application procedure, needing to provide several documents and lots of information, to get this, if private healthcare is available.

The right to use public healthcare comes automatically from having a municipality of residence in the population register. You will need to register separately to Kela for medicine reimbursements.

One addition I would like to make here is that if you do not receive a pension from Finland but from another EU country, you need to get a public health insurance from that other country if this is agreed as such in treaties. In my case I would have been forced to pay my monthly fee for public health insurance in my EU-Country of origin if I would have not received any pension from a Finnish employment. In other words, if you do not receive a Finnish pension, you need to be insured in the country you do receive your (state) pension from. It is wise to check this with your country you receive your retirement payment from. Luckily I do receive about 5€ a month pension from a Finnish employment fund, therefore I stay insured through Kela, if this would have not been the case and all my pension came from my EU country of origin, I would need to pay more than a few hundred euro's each month and have a higher deductible on the reimbursements as well (more own money to spend first before the insurance pays).
Ways to circumvent such issue is to take any cleaning job for 2 months and pay for a pension here, from that salary, it will grant you the right to stay insured by Kela after your retirement.

[VinylHog]

One addition I would like to make here is that if you do not receive a pension from Finland but from another EU country, you need to get a public health insurance from that other country if this is agreed as such in treaties. In my case I would have been forced to pay my monthly fee for public health insurance in my EU-Country of origin if I would have not received any pension from a Finnish employment. In other words, if you do not receive a Finnish pension, you need to be insured in the country you do receive your (state) pension from. It is wise to check this with your country you receive your retirement payment from. Luckily I do receive about 5€ a month pension from a Finnish employment fund, therefore I stay insured through Kela, if this would have not been the case and all my pension came from my EU country of origin, I would need to pay more than a few hundred euro's each month and have a higher deductible on the reimbursements as well (more own money to spend first before the insurance pays).
Ways to circumvent such issue is to take any cleaning job for 2 months and pay for a pension here, from that salary, it will grant you the right to stay insured by Kela after your retirement.

Thank you for this useful knowledge. I will indeed have a pension from a non-EU country.

Whatever I decide, I will for sure come and stay for a few months and see how things seem to me. I have to say that I do not like Oct-Mar period and I am living much further south in the world (which is the case the for 90%+ of people), so perhaps this aspect will be too much for me...

[Ju_Ville]

Finland operates a residency based public health care system. As an EU citizen with sufficient resources you have the right of residence and as such the right to access the public health care system like everyone else.
...
The right to use public healthcare comes automatically from having a municipality of residence in the population register. You will need to register separately to Kela for medicine reimbursements.

I am not uptodate on the current situation. When I moved to Finland in 2014, there was 1 year wait for those not working. Explanation was that KELA is for permanent residents, and they consider us permanent only after that 1 year. We are still covered for emergencies, but anything else I paid directly, and went to one of the private centers. Has that changed?

[betelgeuse]

Finland operates a residency based public health care system. As an EU citizen with sufficient resources you have the right of residence and as such the right to access the public health care system like everyone else.
...
The right to use public healthcare comes automatically from having a municipality of residence in the population register. You will need to register separately to Kela for medicine reimbursements.

I am not uptodate on the current situation. When I moved to Finland in 2014, there was 1 year wait for those not working. Explanation was that KELA is for permanent residents, and they consider us permanent only after that 1 year. We are still covered for emergencies, but anything else I paid directly, and went to one of the private centers. Has that changed?

Am I guessing correctly that you are a third country national and not an EU citizen using the right to free movement? The rules are different for those two categories.

[Ju_Ville]

I am not uptodate on the current situation. When I moved to Finland in 2014, there was 1 year wait for those not working. Explanation was that KELA is for permanent residents, and they consider us permanent only after that 1 year. We are still covered for emergencies, but anything else I paid directly, and went to one of the private centers. Has that changed?

Am I guessing correctly that you are a third country national and not an EU citizen using the right to free movement? The rules are different for those two categories.

Swiss passport, which was, and I think still is, treated the same as EU. OP is third country, though. I was just hijacking the thread

[Ju_Ville]

One addition I would like to make here is that if you do not receive a pension from Finland but from another EU country, you need to get a public health insurance from that other country if this is agreed as such in treaties. In my case I would have been forced to pay my monthly fee for public health insurance in my EU-Country of origin if I would have not received any pension from a Finnish employment. In other words, if you do not receive a Finnish pension, you need to be insured in the country you do receive your (state) pension from. It is wise to check this with your country you receive your retirement payment from. Luckily I do receive about 5€ a month pension from a Finnish employment fund, therefore I stay insured through Kela, if this would have not been the case and all my pension came from my EU country of origin, I would need to pay more than a few hundred euro's each month and have a higher deductible on the reimbursements as well (more own money to spend first before the insurance pays).
Ways to circumvent such issue is to take any cleaning job for 2 months and pay for a pension here, from that salary, it will grant you the right to stay insured by Kela after your retirement.

To hijack the thread some more: Swiss citizen here, which to my knowledge is still treated the same as EU. If I understand the treaty right, toiminimi would also work as solution. Can you confirm that? Asking because in Switzerland being self employed is one huge red flag for authorities, and we are treated very differently than normal employees. But it seems Finland is more reasonable, therefore the treaty sounds more reasonable.

[betelgeuse]

I am not uptodate on the current situation. When I moved to Finland in 2014, there was 1 year wait for those not working. Explanation was that KELA is for permanent residents, and they consider us permanent only after that 1 year. We are still covered for emergencies, but anything else I paid directly, and went to one of the private centers. Has that changed?

Am I guessing correctly that you are a third country national and not an EU citizen using the right to free movement? The rules are different for those two categories.

Swiss passport, which was, and I think still is, treated the same as EU. OP is third country, though. I was just hijacking the thread

It is the same.

” hän on Euroopan unionin jäsenmaan, Islannin, Liechtensteinin, Norjan tai Sveitsin kansalainen ja hän on ulkomaalaislain säännösten mukaisesti rekisteröinyt oleskeluoikeutensa Suomessa, jos häneltä edellytetään tällainen rekisteröinti”

https://finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/1994/201

The DVV registration for someone from Switzerland should be based on the Migri registration and there should be no wait time.

OP is EU.

[betelgeuse]

To hijack the thread some more: Swiss citizen here, which to my knowledge is still treated the same as EU. If I understand the treaty right, toiminimi would also work as solution. Can you confirm that?

If you take/have to take YEL (entrepreneur’s pension insurance), it will result in Finnish pension like being employed.

[Ju_Ville]

To hijack the thread some more: Swiss citizen here, which to my knowledge is still treated the same as EU. If I understand the treaty right, toiminimi would also work as solution. Can you confirm that?

If you take/have to take YEL (entrepreneur’s pension insurance), it will result in Finnish pension like being employed.

Thanks a lot! This forum is still the best! All that combined NI (natural intelligence) beats anything else!

[VinylHog]

Am I guessing correctly that you are a third country national and not an EU citizen using the right to free movement? The rules are different for those two categories.

I have EU citizenship but my pension will come from a non EU country.