Only about one in five students have paid the healthcare fee – more than 200,000 have yet to pay
Higher education students must pay the student healthcare fee on their own initiative using the OmaKela e-service. Kela does not bill students for the fee. The due date for the spring term is 31 January 2022.
Students who attend a traditional university or a university of applied sciences and who are entitled to use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) must pay a healthcare fee to Kela. To date, about 50,000 students have paid the fee, and about 210,000 have yet to pay it.
During the week ending 9 January, Kela sent a letter to students who according to the information available to Kela had registered as attending for the spring term 2022 but had 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 on the OmaKela e-service. Students who registered as attending this January may not have received the letter.
The letter will not be sent to students who have paid the fee or who have not registered as attending.
The 2022 rate of the student healthcare fee is 35.80 euros per term
In 2022, the student healthcare fee in higher education is 35.80 euros per term. Students are not billed for the fee but are expected to pay it unprompted. Students who do not pay the fee by 31 January 2022 will get a letter from Kela reminding them of it. They will also be charged a EUR 5 late fee.
If a student does not pay the healthcare fee after having been reminded of it, Kela can withhold the healthcare fee and the late fee from study grant payments without consulting the student. If the healthcare fee cannot be withheld from the study grant payments, it will be referred to the enforcement authority for collection.
The 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 can pay the fee for both the spring and autumn term 2022 at the same time.
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