Cancer patients’ expenses

Health centres charge a fee per visit, which may be levied for three visits to the same health centre within a single calendar year. Another option is to pay an annual fee. Most health centres also charge for emergency visits during evenings and weekends. General information on client fees is available on the website of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Client fees(opens in a new window)

Hospitals may charge for such things as outpatient visits, outpatient surgical procedures, a per diem fee for in-patients and for serial treatments per session.

X-ray and laboratory tests are free of charge for cancer patients if they are to do with outpatient visits. Medical certificates are not charged for at health centres, if the certificate concerns treatment such as a certificate for sick leave to give your employer. Other doctors’ certificates carry a fee.

You may have to pay a penalty charge at a health centre and hospital for unused appointments, for example with a health centre doctor or for costly imaging examinations

There is an annual cap to public health care costs. Patients must themselves check when the cost ceiling is reached. To do this you can use a tracking card available from your health centre. User fees for family members under the age of 18 can be marked up on a parent’s expense tracking card. Make sure you keep all original payment receipts. The medical institution treating you and where you have reached the payment cap will issue you a document to verify this.

The Social Insurance Institution (Kela) does not reimburse public health care user fees.