Foreign students overcharged for mandatory health insurance

print this

Some of the foreign students studying at Finnish institutions of higher education have paid too much for mandatory health insurance.
      Health insurance recently became a precondition for residence permits for students studying Finland who are not citizens of European Union countries, or of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland.
      A majority of new students have acquired the insurance that they need at home, before coming to Finland. However, graduate students have faced difficulties, as have those who have come to Finland to work, and who have later become students.
      Problems have stemmed from the fact that the right kinds of insurance policies have not been available from any Finnish insurance company. Information has been limited mainly to one insurer - the Danish company IHI.
     
Among international health insurance companies, IHI is seen as being very up-market: if not the Rolls-Royce of insurers, then at least a large Audi. It includes among its clients championship athletes.
      IHI is seen as "a tad expensive" for the needs of students, admits Auli Lipsanen, director of Finndealer, the Finnish representative of the Danish company.
      In spite of the high costs, more than ten students have taken out a health insurance policy through Finndealer. At least some of the students whose residence permits are about to expire, have found themselves with few options.
     
The dominant position of IHI stems from the preparation of EU legislation, which was intended to secure health care and medicines for students coming from outside the EU, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
      The EU resorted to a directive making insurance a prerequisite for being allowed to study in the EU. In Finland the Ministry of the Interior began preparations for changes in aliens' legislation.
      During the preparation of the legislation it was noticed that the required type of insurance was not available at any Finnish insurance companies. Eero Koskenniemi, a top official at the Ministry of the Interior, then asked if Finnish insurance companies knew of any international companies who might provide the mandatory coverage.
      The only provider that was mentioned was IHI.
      "None of us are experts in insurance", Koskenniemi explained.
     
The legislation was passed by Parliament in the summer.
      After that, Markus Laitinen, the head of international affairs at the University of Helsinki, began to do research of his own. Among other things, he found an American website comparing international health insurance policies.
      In spite of Laitinen's discovery, both a paper put out by the Interior Ministry, and information put out by the Directorate of Immigration specify IHI. From there, the company has been, for all practical purposes, the only one to be mentioned to residence permit officials, and to universities, and finally, at the end of the chain, the students.
     
The thinking at the Ministry of the Interior was that IHI was the most student-friendly option. The company has a representative in Finland (Finndealer), and no credit card is required of policyholders, notes Salla Konsti of the Ministry of the Interior, when comparing IHI with the information found by Laitinen on the Internet.
      The Ministry also thought that IHI's fees were reasonably priced - even cheaper than the options put forward by Markus Laitinen.
      The ministry failed to make note of the first word in the IHI price list: quarterly. The cost of premiums were for three month periods, and not an entire year.
     
When Finnish insurers were asked by the Ministry of the Interior to draw up more appropriate insurance policies for foreign students, only OP-Pohjola gave a positive response.
      The ministry proposed either personal insurance policies, or group policies that the institutions of learning could take out on behalf of their students.
      "We consider the matter to be of social importance, for competitiveness, among other things", says lawyer Matti Lukkari of Pohjola.
      Fennia and If said that they would look into the matter, while Tapiola said that it is not interested.
      International options are offered by insurance brokers, such as Aon Finland, which does not usually serve private individuals, but which would take on educational institutions as clients.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  No tuition fees for foreign students coming from outside EU and EEA (3.4.2006)
  Call for annual tuition fees of up to EUR 12,000 for foreign students from outside EU and EEA (24.8.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat