Are you 65 or older? – See a private general practitioner at the price of a public one starting in September

Parliament has approved a temporary amendment to the Health Insurance Act. After the amendment enters into force, persons aged 65 or over can see a private general practitioner at a much lower cost than usual. This means that persons aged 65 or over will have more say in whether they want to use public or private general practitioner services.

The amendment is part of a pilot study on freedom of choice in healthcare. Kela will implement the pilot study in cooperation with private healthcare service providers between 1 September 2025 and 31 December 2027. 

Clear prices, no unexpected costs

During the pilot study, each appointment with a general practitioner will cost EUR 28.20 or less (in 2025).  Customers do not have to pay any other fees for their appointments, such as administrative or service fees.

“The goal is for senior citizens to get the healthcare services they need, when they need them. By setting a deductible in advance, we ensure that customers know how much they have to pay for each appointment. This benefits the customer,” says Auli Valli-Lintu, Director of Legislative Development at Kela.

Customers who qualify for the pilot study can book up to two appointments in 2025 and up to three appointments per calendar year in 2026 and 2027. The appointments can be in-person appointments or remote video or phone appointments. Kela will publish a list of participating service providers closer to the start of the pilot study.

“During the pilot study, customers can choose the right doctor for them and then go back to that same familiar professional for further treatment, which promotes continuity in their care,” notes Valli-Lintu.

During the pilot study, Kela will also provide reimbursement for some tests and examinations the doctor orders for you during the appointment, such as laboratory tests and imaging tests.  You pay half (50%) of the price of each test and examination. Maximum prices will be set for the tests and examinations to ensure that you know approximately how much you will have to pay before you make an appointment and to keep the prices of the services reasonable.

We will publish a list of reimbursable tests and examinations and their maximum prices on our website before the pilot study begins.

A study will be conducted to monitor the outcome of the pilot study

A sufficiently large number of private service providers need to participate in the pilot study for it to be successful.

A study will be conducted in connection with the pilot study to assess how successful it is and to determine whether similar practices should be integrated more permanently into the Finnish healthcare system. The study will assess, for example, how quickly customers get access to treatment and the continuity of their care and their customer experience in addition to the pilot study’s impact on the service load in wellbeing services counties and on the total costs of the healthcare system. 

Over 20% of the total population of Finland is aged 65 or over, which means that the pilot study affects approximately 1.3 million people.