Kela:
As a student I use:
-Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS). There is a fee for students in higher education that one needs to pay every semester. as a result one can use FSHS service as much as needed. I can also use the local offices (I live in Lappeenranta), even though my school is located in Kuopio.
-Student loan tax deduction. I get tax deduction on the student loan i got during my first higher education degree. As I pay my student loan to the bank, I get a reduction on my taxes for the amount I pay the loan. I am eligible until my outstanding student loan goes under 2500 euros.
Other I use:
Kela also gives me reimbursements on my medicine expenses. As I have asthma, which is a chronic long-term lung disease, I get a 65% reimbursement on my medicine expenses. The reimbursement is deducted automatically from the prices, so when I go to the pharmacy to buy medicine, I do not have to do anything special. Also in the beginning of every calendar year one need to pay the initial deductible which is 50 euros. After that you get the reimbursed prices.
I feel that the reimbursement is rather vital, because long- term medication is expensive: mine would be several hundred euros per year without the reimbursement. That is a lot of money to pay just to literally be able to exist.
One can order an European health care card from Kela. I’ve had one for years now: It was mandatory to have it with me when I studied abroad in 2015.
Omakanta:
I can view all my medical records, prescriptions and other health data on Omakanta. I logged in using my online bank credentials but it can also be done by mobile certificate or electronic ID.
Keva:
So, I can’t calculate the amount of pension I would have at 63 years, because it can be calculate belove my lowest retirement age. I logged in to Keva to checked my lowest possible age of retirement: estimation is 67 years and 10 months (though it has not been confirmed). My estimated highest age of retirement is 70 years at this time and date. All though, it also can change. I calculated that if i work until the estimated highest retirement age, my pension will grow approximately 13 %.
Online shop:
I chose Hobbii as an online shop. It isn’t really field related, but i love to do crafts such as sewing, crochet and knitting. Hobbii has a very wide selection of yarns and tools used in crafts. I do sometimes feel anxiety over not shopping local, but my hometown has only one craft designated shop. I do shop there and I bring my sewing machine there for its maintenance and buy fabrics there. It is overwhelmingly cheaper to buy yarn from an online shop. And of course there is the aspect of convenience. You can select the items you want sitting on your own couch and they are delivered to your home.
Hobbii disclosed all information very plainly so it is understandable for everyone who uses their site. It is a very reliable service.
Service from my field:
I chose Pihlajanlinna online services. In addition of using FSHS, I get occupational health services from Pihlajanlinna. They have online services and a mobile app. You can book appointments directly on the app. You can see a doctor in matter of minutes on remote reception: it can be a videochat of a regular chat. You can also post pictures to the chat. I get all my prescriptions and test results straight to the app. It is really convenient.
Digital gap:
In my work i meet a lot of people who are very distrustful of digitalization. Especially with regards to ECEC many of the older generations believe that digital tools are taking away from the “traditional” education and care. I acknowledge that there will always be people who experience anxiety about all digital things. The problems is, when the analog way of doing something is removed from the equation and all that is left is the digital way of doing things. And sometimes the change seems rapid to some: When my mum was my age, every payday she’d go to the bank to deposit her paycheck to her account. Because of the inexorable development of digital services, I feel that education and guidance on how to use digital tools is very vital, especially to the older generations.
Digital competence:
Self evaluation:
I think that my work consists so much of digital environments that many of the things in this section were rather self explanatory to me. Also since I am of that era that grew to digitalization, using digital and online services is more of a given than a oddity to me. I absolutely adore the fact that all my health information is in digital form and that I can book appointments or pay bills online. I am a tad weary of the security, but for instance with banks, I have rather a high trust on their cyber security.
Doing the digital competence test was interesting: it visualized my strengths.
Blogs I check out about Digi Citizen:
https://isokenblog.wordpress.com/