Kela informs that higher education students can pay the healthcare fee now.
Higher education students who study for a degree and who have registered as attending must pay a student healthcare fee. The new due date for the spring term is 15 March 2024 Kela will send a letter in advance of the due date to students who must pay the fee.
The due dates for the student healthcare fee were rescheduled at the beginning of the year. The due date for the spring term is 15 March for students who register as attending by 31 January. For students who register as attending on or after 1 February, the due date remains 31 July.
According to Mari Jaakkola, a legal counsel at Kela’s Overpayments Recovery Centre, both individual students and student organisations have asked for a later due date. “The new due dates will be good news to many students”, she says.
Because the due date was pushed back from the end of January, Kela will now have time to send a letter to the students who must pay the fee before the fee is due. In previous years, it was possible for students to register as attending up until the due date, which did not leave enough time for Kela to identify all students who must pay the fee before the fee was due. Therefore, not all students liable for the fee could be sent a letter about it.
In February, Kela will send a letter to students who have registered as attending for spring term 2024 but have not yet paid the healthcare fee. The letter reminds the student of the obligation to pay the fee and provides instructions for how to pay it. The letter can also be read in the OmaKela e-service. In the OmaKela e-service, students can also choose to receive the letter only via OmaKela.
The letter will not be sent to students who have paid the fee or who have not registered as attending.
The 2024 rate of the student healthcare fee is EUR 36.80 per term
In 2024, the student healthcare fee in higher education is EUR 36.80 per term. It is also possible to pay the fee at the same time for the spring and autumn term 2024 (EUR 73.60).
Students can now go to OmaKela to pay the fee. Students who register as attending by 31 January but do not pay the healthcare fee by 15 March 2024 will get a letter from Kela reminding them to pay it. They will also be charged a EUR 5 late fee.
The healthcare fee is used to finance healthcare services for higher education students. The State finances 77% of the costs for healthcare services for higher education students and the rest, 23%, are financed through the healthcare fee. Students who have registered as attending are entitled to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS).
You do not have to pay the healthcare fee if you have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country or from Switzerland or the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
Students who have social security coverage from another EU or EEA country, from Switzerland or from Great Britain and Northern Ireland are exempt from paying the student healthcare fee for higher education students. Because Kela may not know the coverage status of individual students, some students could receive a letter from Kela reminding them of the healthcare fee even though they are not required to pay it.
Students must provide a copy of a valid European Health Insurance Card to Kela to prove that they are not required to pay the healthcare fee. Students who have social security coverage in Great Britain or Northern Ireland can send a copy of either a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC). For more detailed instructions, see Kela’s website External link.