Treatment costs in Finland for foreign patients

In Finland, you must pay either the municipal resident’s client fee for treatment received in public health care or all costs of the treatment. The payment is affected by the country from which you came to Finland, whether you have fallen suddenly ill during your stay in Finland or whether you have travelled to Finland for the express purpose of utilising the health care services.


A client fee may be charged to patients in Finnish public health care under the client fee legislation. Instead of the actual fee provided for in the Act or Decree on Client Charges in Healthcare and Social Welfare, you can be charged the actual costs of the treatment in the following cases:

  • You have come to Finland to seek treatment and you do not have prior authorisation from your country of residence (form S2)
  • You are coming from a country other than an EU or EEA country, the UK or Switzerland, and you do not have a municipality of residence in Finland or are not otherwise entitled to treatment in the country
  • You do not present a certificate of your treatment right, such as a European Health Insurance Card, in public health care

However, even if you do not live in Finland, you may not be charged for vaccinations included in the national vaccination programme provided for in the Communicable Diseases Act, general voluntary vaccinations decided by the Government, or compulsory vaccinations provided for by a Government decree.

In addition, no fee may be charged for examinations done to prevent the spread of a generally hazardous communicable disease and for emergency treatment referred to in Section 50 of the Health Care Act, as well as for medicines prescribed for the treatment of a generally hazardous communicable disease, or for the examination, treatment and medication prescribed for the treatment of a pregnant HIV-positive person.

In private health care, you pay the price determined by the service producer. You can claim reimbursement later on from Kela or your health insurance institution if you live in an EU or EEA country or Switzerland and have received medically necessary treatment in private health care.