Medical expenses

The costs of medical care can put a strain on your finances.

Find out whether you are eligible for assistance for your medical expenses. If you are having financial problems, contact the provider that billed you to ask for an extension or negotiate a payment plan.

The following tips can help you manage your finances if you are burdened by many medical expenses.

Client fees in public health care

• You can apply for reduced or waived client fees when using public social welfare and health care services. According to section 11 of the Act on Client Fees, reducing or waiving client fees takes precedence over social assistance payments. Find out in which situations reducing or waiving the fee is possible and how to apply. See the website of your wellbeing services county for instructions on how to apply.
• Client fees in public health care have an annual upper limit. In 2024, the upper limit is 762 euros. As the client, you need to personally keep track of what you have paid towards the annual payment ceiling during the year. For more information about on client fees, see the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health website .

Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland

• You are eligible for a travel allowance from Kela when you need to travel to public or private health care due to an illness, for example.
• The deductible for prescription drugs counts towards the annual limit on medicine expenses. After the annual limit on medicine expenses is exceeded, you only pay a deductible of 2.50 euros for covered prescription drugs.
• Certain diseases may entitle the medicinal product to special reimbursement of costs . The right to compensation must be applied for separately from Kela.
• Kela may grant basic social assistance for medical expenses .
• If you are approved for basic social assistance, you will usually also receive an electronic voucher which you can use to buy the medication you need.
• At your request, medical bills can be paid directly from basic social assistance to the service provider . If the money to pay the bill is paid to you directly, you need to pay the bill personally. Make sure that you do not leave any bills unpaid.
• When you become ill, find out whether you are eligible for sickness allowance . Check whether the allowance includes a waiting period. You can also receive sickness allowance if you are unemployed.
• Rehabilitation can help if an illness or injury hinders your studies, work or ability to live independently at any time of your life.
• Find out whether you are eligible for disability or care allowance for yourself, your child, or a family member. Read more: Disability allowance for children , disability allowance for adults , and care allowance for pensioners .

Debt collection of public health care client fees

• Client fees in public health care are directly enforceable. When collecting a directly enforceable debt, the maximum recovery cost that may be claimed is €51, regardless of the difficulty of collection. For more about the steps involved in recovering a debt, see the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority’s website .
• The interest on late payment for a directly enforceable debt is 11,5 % between 1 January 2024 and 30 June 2024.
• Unreasonable recovery costs can be appealed. See the instructions by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority .

Enforced recovery

• Please note that if part of your income is garnished to pay a debt, the amount garnished is deducted from your income when calculating basic social assistance. For more information, see the guide by Kela (in Finnish) and Kela's website .
• You can apply for a restriction of garnishment owing to large medical expenses.

Tax Administration

• You may be eligible for a deduction in tax owing to illness, unemployment or maintenance of a child, for example.