Higher education students, please note: remember to pay the student healthcare fee!
The amount of the healthcare fee for students in higher education is adjusted annually. In 2022, the fee is EUR 35.80 per term. The fee is paid to Kela for both the spring and the autumn term. You are not billed for the fee, but are expected to pay it unprompted.
If you have come as an exchange student to Finland from another country and you are not completing a degree or qualification at a Finnish higher education institution, you do not have to pay the healthcare fee. If you are not sure whether you have to pay the fee, see Who must pay the healthcare fee for students in higher education.
You must pay the healthcare fee to Kela once per term, i.e. twice a year. No bill will be sent on the healthcare fee, and thus you have to pay the fee on your own initiative.
- You can pay the fee even if you have not yet registered as attending.
- You can pay the healthcare fee for both the spring and the autumn term 2022 now.
- If you are applying for basic social assistance towards the healthcare fee, make sure that you only pay the fee for one academic term at a time.
- The due dates are determined based on the date on which you have registered as attending. There are four possible due dates in each calendar year.
- For the autumn term, the due date is 30 September provided that you have registered as attending by then. If you register as attending for the autumn term on or after 1 October, the due date is 31 December.
- For the spring term, the due date is 31 January provided that you have registered as attending by then. If you register as attending for the spring term on or after 1 February, the due date is 31 July.
You can pay the healthcare fee via the OmaKela e-service: Omat etuudet > Muut etuusasiat > Korkeakouluopiskelijan terveydenhoitomaksu.
In the OmaKela e-service, you will be directed to your online bank to effect the payment, or you can print the payment details for later use.
If you do not pay the healthcare fee by the due date, Kela will send you a reminder. If you pay the fee after the due date, Kela will charge a fixed late-payment fee of EUR 5. If you still do not pay the healthcare fee after having received a reminder, Kela can withhold the fee and the late-payment fee from your study grant payments without first consulting you. If the fee cannot be withheld from the study grant payments, the healthcare fee will be referred to the enforcement authority for collection
If you cannot use the e-service for instance because you do not have Finnish online banking credentials, please pay the fee to Kela as a bank transfer.