I want to seek treatment in Finland

What sort of treatment can I seek?

If you are covered by health insurance in another EU country, you can freely seek treatment in Finland’s public or private health care. Seeking treatment means that you arrive in Finland for the purpose of using health care services. You can seek services of both primary health care and specialised medical care and you can also receive treatment for a chronic condition.

However, you cannot seek the following services in Finland:

• long-term institutional care
•  organ transplants
• vaccinations according to the national programme
• occupational health care
• school and student health care.

You need to contact the treatment providers personally in order to determine the opportunities for treatment, waiting times and treatment costs. If necessary, you can request information from the Finnish Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare Also explore the following sections

• Using health services in Finland
• Health services in Finland

Costs of treatment in Finland

As a rule, you will be responsible for the costs of treatment when travelling to Finland to seek treatment. You will also be responsible for arranging interpretation, translating documents and for covering any related costs. The costs of the treatment can be invoiced in advance; at most, the advance fee may amount to the estimated costs of treatment.

If you come from another EU or EEA country, United Kingdom or Switzerland, establish from your country’s health insurance institution how and on what terms they reimburse treatment costs. You can apply from your country of residence a prior authorisation under Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 for treatment provided in Finland. The prior authorisation is a promissory note, based on which the party granting the permission reimburses the country providing the treatment for the costs related to the treatment. In this case, you will pay the same client fee as the residents of Finland. If you have any other prior authorisation (e.g. under Directive 2011/24/EU), you will pay the actual cost of your treatment. You can apply for reimbursement for the costs of treatment retrospectively from your own health insurance institute.

If you come from outside EU or EEA countries or Switzerland, as a rule you will be responsible for all treatment costs yourself.