Unpaid healthcare fees throw 10,000 students into default risk

About 10,000 higher education students did not pay their student healthcare fee for the spring term 2022, which prompted the national social insurance institution- Kela to refer their fees to the enforcement authority for collection after Easter.

Kela, however, said that there is still time to pay the student healthcare fee immediately in order to avoid collection by enforcement, said Kela in a press release on Wednesday.

In February, Kela sent a past due notice to students who failed to pay the healthcare fee by the deadline. The due date was 31 January 2022 for students who registered as attending for the spring term by 31 January 2022.

Students who have not paid the healthcare fee can look up information on the fee in OmaKela under Perinnät (Collections). If the fee has been paid, no fees subject to collection are shown there. Students can also check their online bank statements or transaction histories to see if the fee has been paid.

If a student has not paid the healthcare even after having been reminded of it and it has not been possible to deduct the fee from the study grant for April, the fee will be referred to the enforcement authorities for collection.

More than 250,000 students, a clear majority, have paid the fee.

Earlier in late February, Kela sent a late payment reminder about the student healthcare fee to some 40,000 students.