Healthcare in Finland – what are my options as a self-employed person?

[katrinchen]

Hey, I'm posting here because I have been having real difficulties with healthcare here in Finland. I have been living in Helsinki for 1.5 years and I am self-employed (registered as toiminimi).


I have been using the public healthcare system, and my experiences with it have not been good. Not only the waiting times (I can be waiting for several weeks for the appointment, and an hour or more beyond the appointment time after arriving at the health station), but also access to services in English.


Recently I saw a doctor, who advised me to make an appointment with a psychiatric nurse. Except, then I find out that there is no psychiatric nurse who speaks English in any of seven local health stations near my address. I had to find this out by contacting each health station individually, and the whole process has taken weeks. In one case I waited three weeks for an appointment, only to then find out the psychiatric nurse doesn't speak English.


It has therefore been two months since the initial doctor's appointment and I still haven't seen a psychiatric nurse. I have been referred to the crisis centre, but even the crisis centre told me there is no one available right now due to high demand. So I am currently seeing a counsellor at the Nuortenkriisipiste, but this cannot replace actual healthcare and it can only be short term (up to 5 sessions). For example, it will not be considered by Kela if I later try to get funding for psychotherapy.


I am completely at my wit's end. I have been through a series of traumatic events in the last few months, including a sexual assault, but there is no help available for me, despite desperately seeking it. I feel that I need some better healthcare solution than I have right now, but it's difficult for me to get information because there is only limited information in English, and none of the Finnish people I have asked have been able to help me.


I don't earn that much money, so I am worried that health insurance or occupational healthcare would be too expensive. I also worry that because I have several chronic conditions already, the private insurance would not cover me or would be too expensive. I have no real understanding of how it works, because I come from UK where I'm used to everything being on the NHS and have therefore never had private insurance before.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[FinnGuyHelsinki]

I don't earn that much money, so I am worried that health insurance or occupational healthcare would be too expensive. I also worry that because I have several chronic conditions already, the private insurance would not cover me or would be too expensive.

I think it's expected that insurance excludes any pre-existing conditions (otherwise people would buy insurances only when they start needing it).

To me it seems you've already discovered what public healthcare options are available, maybe with the exception of widening your search, would it really matter if you needed to travel a bit further to get help?

[biswajit.sharma]

I don't earn that much money, so I am worried that health insurance or occupational healthcare would be too expensive. I also worry that because I have several chronic conditions already, the private insurance would not cover me or would be too expensive.

I think it's expected that insurance excludes any pre-existing conditions (otherwise people would buy insurances only when they start needing it).

True! Health Insurance around the globe typically do not cover pre-existing conditions.

(I do not have a private insurance in Finland yet - so below is an exploratory comment)
But at places, they start covering the pre-existing condition after a cool off period.

For example - in India Most pre-existing conditions get covered after having the insurance for 2 years. (Terms and conditions apply)

Is this an option here in Finland? Would you know.

[katrinchen]

I don't earn that much money, so I am worried that health insurance or occupational healthcare would be too expensive. I also worry that because I have several chronic conditions already, the private insurance would not cover me or would be too expensive.

I think it's expected that insurance excludes any pre-existing conditions (otherwise people would buy insurances only when they start needing it).

To me it seems you've already discovered what public healthcare options are available, maybe with the exception of widening your search, would it really matter if you needed to travel a bit further to get help?

At this point I would be travelling for an hour to get to any of these places (so make that two hours' travel there and back plus actual appointment time...) I can't take a whole morning or whole afternoon every time because I don't have that kind of flexibility in my schedule.

[betelgeuse]

I am completely at my wit's end. I have been through a series of traumatic events in the last few months, including a sexual assault, but there is no help available for me, despite desperately seeking it. I feel that I need some better healthcare solution than I have right now, but it's difficult for me to get information because there is only limited information in English, and none of the Finnish people I have asked have been able to help me.

Private insurance will not help as they will exclude pre-existing conditions as others have said. You can widen your search for an English speaking nurse to other municipalities. You have the right to choose any municipality as the provider.

https://www.choosehealthcare.fi/choose- ... th-centre/