The fees that people pay for public healthcare are set to dramatically increase during the last year of the current government’s term, according to newspaper Ilta-Sanomat.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo‘s (NCP) coalition government hammered out the state budget for 2027-2030 as it aimed to save 400 million euros.
Among many other plans, the government decided to again raise the maximum fees that wellbeing services counties will be able to charge public healthcare users.
According to Ilta-Sanomat, when all of the government’s planned and past increases are taken into account fees for hospital outpatient clinic appointments and surgery are set to grow by nearly 90 percent — compared to 2023 levels — while health clinic visit fees will rise by 70 percent.
The paper noted that the government also decided on completely new customer fees.
The changes aim to boost healthcare fee income by 88 million euros next year and by 106 million in 2028.
Ilta-Sanomat’s article provided a table showing how the fees have grown, and how the increases are set continue.
For example, in 2023, the maximum fee wellbeing counties could charge a customer for a healthcare clinic visit was €20.90. If the arrangement moves forward as planned, the top fee for a clinic appointment will be set at €36.24 in 2027. By then, maximum fees will have grown by more than 73 percent, according to the paper.
The fee increases for surgeries are more pronounced, and set to balloon by just under 88 percent by next year, according to Ilta-Sanomat.
However, wellbeing counties set the fees themselves, and the new plans reflect the maximum amount they could potentially charge, the paper noted.
Where’s Finland on Trump’s ‘list’?
According to Joel Linnainmäki, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), Finland is likely on US President Donald Trump‘s ‘good’ list, Iltalehti reported on Friday.
But whether that is a good thing is up in the air, according to the researcher.
It noted that earlier this week, a report by Politico suggested that the White House has “something akin to a ‘naughty and nice’ list of Nato countries”, as the Trump administration looks to hit back at allies for not helping the US with its war in Iran.
A US defence official and three European diplomats told Politico that Nato countries were divided into different levels based on their ‘contribution to the alliance’.
“This may benefit certain allies, such as Finland and, for example, Poland, which have been in Trump’s good books when it comes to defence spending,” Linnainmäki told the paper.
However, he noted that as a small country, Finland doesn’t want to be put in a position where it’s used by one big ally to punish or pressure another.
“It is not a diplomatically or strategically good position for a country like Finland,” he said.
The researcher recalled the Munich Security Conference in February, when US Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby mentioned Finland at least three times in a positive light, as he categorised European countries as good or bad for the United States.
Linnainmäki acknowledged feeling momentarily positive about the compliments, but said there are more things to consider — like how the situation looks to the countries being criticised.
“From the alliance’s perspective, it is a bad and worrying situation,” he told Iltalehti.
Will weather wreck weekend?
Precipitation is headed to Finland this weekend, according to Ilta-Sanomat.
Citing Foreca’s on-call meteorologist Ilkka Alanko‘s forecast, it said the wet weather is due to arrive on the Ostrobothnian coast from northern Sweden overnight.
That precipitation is set to move to the south and east, reaching Central Finland on Saturday night.
In southern areas, the precipitation will start in the form of drizzle over the course of Saturday. However, conditions may change once the temperature potentially drops below the freezing point.
“In the south, it will rain first, but during Saturday evening and Sunday night, the rain will turn into snow in the south. On Sunday morning, there will also be snow in southern Finland,” Alanko said, according to the paper.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has issued warnings for slippery driving conditions in many central and western areas on Saturday — while forest fire warnings are in effect in many more areas.
The agency’s forecast expects poor driving conditions on Sunday in some areas, due to the snow, accompanied by gusty winds.
FMI has also issued warnings for strong winds and high waves in many sea areas.
Finland will observe May Day next week, and Iltalehti has reported about a medium-range forecast suggesting that the holiday weekend could warm up considerably.
