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In Finland, there's not really a compulsory medical coverage by employers. The only compulsory part is planning and processes to prevent work-related health haz

In Finland, there's not really a compulsory medical coverage by employers. The only compulsory part is planning and processes to prevent work-related health hazards and harms, and to protect and advance workplace safety, ability to work and health. (See law 2001/1383) So, some paperwork is mandatory, no actual health care. The reason many employers voluntarily provide an actual health insurance (or simply reimburse private-sector medical costs directly) is that it is one of the few tax-free benefits that employers can give to people, so it works efficiently as an additional compensation. And of course, because employee absences are costly, it makes good sense to try to keep them in good health. The public sector health care does practically nothing in terms of preventive health care for people between 25-65 and in employment (except for maternity-related things). This is left to employers.

deleted 12y ago
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fsloth 12y ago
"So, some paperwork is mandatory, no actual health care." The way the law is brought to action is that the private clinics have specific service tiers which they offer to employers, of which even the basic one covers consultation by a general practitioner. The easiest way for employers to fulfill the letter of the law is to buy the service. Which means that working adults seldom tend to the public services unless they are really ill, which means more business for the private clinics and increases the appeal of a health insurance (it's easier). This is getting really obscure for this forum, but as a reference: The specific law is https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2001/20011383 https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2001/20011383 Which in google translate is https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fi&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.finlex.fi%2Ffi%2Flaki%2Fajantasa%2F2001%2F20011383&edit-text= https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fi&tl=en&js=y&prev...
- ptaipale 12y ago
  I was founder in a SW startup, and those of us who had a <15 % minority share were technically employees for whom the mandatory services had to be arranged. What it meant was that there was a paper that the managing director had to sign, and some small amount of money to pay to KELA (the public insurer). There was no occupational doctor or care service assigned. Yes, this is obscure for this forum (perhaps that's why some people downvoted the previous comment) but just for the note, in Finland the employer is not really required to buy any services from private clinics. The legal requirement is for existence of a preventive plan, and a specification for what other services the plan covers. It's okay by law if the coverage effectively evaluates to nil, and employees just are off to the public system's queue.
  - fsloth 12y ago
    Ok, this is really obscure but thanks for the clarification :)

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

fsloth 12y ago

"So, some paperwork is mandatory, no actual health care." The way the law is brought to action is that the private clinics have specific service tiers which they offer to employers, of which even the basic one covers consultation by a general practitioner. The easiest way for employers to fulfill the letter of the law is to buy the service. Which means that working adults seldom tend to the public services unless they are really ill, which means more business for the private clinics and increases the appeal of a health insurance (it's easier). This is getting really obscure for this forum, but as a reference: The specific law is https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2001/20011383 https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2001/20011383 Which in google translate is https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fi&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.finlex.fi%2Ffi%2Flaki%2Fajantasa%2F2001%2F20011383&edit-text= https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fi&tl=en&js=y&prev...

ptaipale 12y ago
I was founder in a SW startup, and those of us who had a <15 % minority share were technically employees for whom the mandatory services had to be arranged. What it meant was that there was a paper that the managing director had to sign, and some small amount of money to pay to KELA (the public insurer). There was no occupational doctor or care service assigned. Yes, this is obscure for this forum (perhaps that's why some people downvoted the previous comment) but just for the note, in Finland the employer is not really required to buy any services from private clinics. The legal requirement is for existence of a preventive plan, and a specification for what other services the plan covers. It's okay by law if the coverage effectively evaluates to nil, and employees just are off to the public system's queue.
- fsloth 12y ago
  Ok, this is really obscure but thanks for the clarification :)