Costs of medically necessary treatment

If you present your European Health Insurance Card in Finnish public health care, you will receive medically necessary treatment for the same client fee as a Finnish resident during your temporary stay in Finland.


  • If you are residing in another Nordic country, you can present an identity card instead.
  • If you come from the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland, prove your right to treatment with either the European Health Insurance Card issued during the EU membership of the United Kingdom or the Brexit transition period, the Citizens Rights Card or the Global Health Insurance Cards (GHICs).
  • If you are residing in Australia, you will receive medically necessary treatment by presenting your passport.
  • If you are residing in Quebec, Canada and have been granted a Certificate of entitlement to treatment in Finland based on work or study, you will receive treatment for the client fee after presenting the certificate.

Your European Health Insurance Card, identification or passport must be valid during your treatment.

If you do not have a European Health Insurance Card or another certificate of right to treatment, you will generally be liable to pay the costs of any treatment provided in Finland. Your insurance company may cover the costs if you have a private insurance policy for medical expenses.

If you do not have a European Health Insurance Card

You can request a European Health Insurance Card from your own health insurance institution. If you do not have a card or have, for example, misplaced it, you can request a substituting certificate from your health insurance institution.

You can claim reimbursement retroactively if you have paid the costs yourself

Kela will reimburse Finnish private health care costs as well as medicine and travel expenses if another EU or EEA country, the United Kingdom, Switzerland or Australia is responsible for the costs of your medical care or if you have come to Finland from Quebec, Canada as a posted worker, researcher or student, and you have registered yourself with Kela.

Kela will not reimburse costs you pay for public health care.

  • If you have paid the costs of medically necessary treatment in Finnish public health care yourself, you can claim retroactive reimbursement from your own health insurance institution.
  • If you feel that only the client fee should have been charged for your treatment, your primary option is to ask the treatment provider to correct the invoice. Present a valid European Health Insurance Card or other certificate of right to treatment to the treatment provider.