Treatment in Finland

In an emergency, call 112. Everyone is entitled to receive emergency treatment. If it is not an emergency, contact your nearest health centre. You can find the health centre’s contact information on the website of the wellbeing services county. You can also go to a private health centre.

If you have a European Health Insurance Card, you will receive medically necessary treatment in Finland’s public healthcare system by presenting the card. Medically necessary treatment refers to treatment that cannot wait for your return home.

If you reside permanently in Australia, you will receive medically necessary treatment by presenting your passport. If you come from another Nordic country, you can present your passport or official ID card instead of a European Health Insurance Card.

For more information about receiving treatment and the costs of treatment, see the falling ill when travelling in Finland and Finland-specific information about health services webpages.

If you are covered by health insurance in another EU country, you can freely seek treatment in public or private healthcare in Finland. You will receive treatment on the same terms as local residents. If you are not covered by health insurance in another EU country, you can freely seek treatment in Finland’s public or private healthcare at your own expense. However, treatment providers are not obliged to treat you.

Find a treatment provider that suits you and agree on the treatment arrangements directly with the provider. Ask your health insurance institution whether it covers the costs of seeking treatment. If you have prior authorisation in accordance with EU Regulation 883/2004, you will pay the same client fee for Finnish public healthcare as local residents. Otherwise, you will pay all treatment costs yourself.

On our website, you can find advice on how to find a suitable treatment place and a list of seven items to check when you seek treatment in Finland with a prior authorisation.

If you seek treatment in Finland, you should primarily seek information on the treatment possibilities directly from the treatment providers yourself. The EU-healthcare.fi website provides contact information for the wellbeing services counties, on-call hospitals, maternity hospitals and units for rare diseases. You can search for the contact information of public health centres and dentists on the websites of the wellbeing services counties or the Suomi.fi online service. You can use search engines to find private treatment providers.

The maximum client fees for public healthcare and some information on the average prices of private service providers are available on the EU-healthcare.fi website. Price information on public healthcare services can also be found on the websites of the wellbeing services counties. You should also look for price information on the service provider websites. You can also ask about the prices directly from the treatment providers.

If you need specialised medical care, you need a referral. Find out directly from the treatment provider to determine what kind of referral you need. The treatment provider must accept a referral written in another EU country, provided that it includes all the necessary information. Usually, the referral must be written in Finnish or Swedish, but the treatment provider may also accept a referral written in English. If you need a translation of the referral, you will have to pay the translation costs yourself.

Seeking treatment refers to a situation where a patient travels to Finland for the express purpose of receiving treatment. If you are covered by health insurance in another EU country and wish to seek treatment in Finland, you are entitled to receive treatment on the same terms as local residents. A healthcare professional will assess your need for treatment. You will have to wait in the same treatment queue as local residents.

If you are from outside the EU and seek treatment in Finland, the hospital has the right to decide if it provides treatment for you. Contact the hospital where you would like to seek treatment directly and ask if they can provide you with the treatment.

The hospital may also restrict the admission of patients from EU countries if it is necessary to ensure healthcare for municipal residents. The restriction can last a maximum of 12 months and must be notified. You can ask the Finnish Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare whether a hospital has notified restrictions on the treatment of foreign patients.

If you are covered by health insurance in another EU country, you can come to Finland to give birth. You will receive treatment on the same terms as local residents, but you have to pay the full cost of the treatment yourself. Ask your health insurance institution in advance whether you can be reimbursed for the costs of the treatment. If you have prior authorisation in accordance with EU Regulation 883/2004, you only have to pay the same client fee for the treatment as local residents.

If you come from outside the EU, the hospital is not obliged to provide obstetric care for you. Determine your treatment options directly with the maternity hospital of your choice. You are responsible for the full cost of the treatment yourself.

You can find contact information for maternity hospitals on our website. Read also the checklist for treatment seekers.

Service choices in healthcare refer to publicly-funded healthcare services. In addition to public health care, the services also include private health services for which Kela pays reimbursement. Service choices in healthcare are relevant if you, for example, wish to seek treatment in another EU or EEA country or Switzerland. You cannot receive Kela reimbursement or prior authorisation for treatment that is not included in the service choices in healthcare in Finland. An exception to this is rare diseases, for which prior authorisation can be granted in some cases.

In Finland, service choices in healthcare are defined by the Council for Choices in Health Care in Finland (COHERE Finland).

European Reference Networks for rare diseases are virtual expert networks. Their purpose is to serve as instruments for doctors in diagnosing, treating and researching rare diseases. Patients themselves will not be in contact with the reference networks; instead, their doctor is always the contact person.

Read more about European Reference Networks for rare diseases in the section for healthcare professionals