Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), My Kanta and Keva 

Kela

The Kela.fi website provides information to private citizens about the help and benefits available to people in different life situations. As a customer, I can do business with Kela through the online service. Through the online service, I can check if my application has been resolved, how much I will be paid and what the payment dates are. I think this electronic service is a very useful service. Fortunately, I have had to use Kela’s services quite a bit.
Currently studying at a university of applied sciences, I have a right to use the health services of Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS, Finnish abbreviation YTHS). For these services, I have to pay a health care fee of 35.80 Euros per term to Kela. Students can also receive study grants from Kela, I can not receive the study grant from Kela because my income exceeds the limit allowed for granting the study grant. Duties do not include dealing with patients in matters with KELA.
Kela has also paid me a scholarship and a student loan. While I was expecting my children, Kela paid me parental allowance and I also received maternity allowance. I have also received a maternity package awarded as maternity allowance.I have received sickness benefit from Kela a few times before.
I have already purchased a European Health Insurance Card before, so I am not going to order it now. The new card will automatically come home when the card expires. Everyone in my family has European health cards.

Oma Kanta (My kanta)

OmaKanta is an electronic social and health care service. Through the page I can check my own health information.  I can see information from my previous doctor’s and dentist´s appointments, results of blood tests, medical prescriptions, and corona vaccine certificate.  Strong authentication must be used to log in. I signed in to Omakanta by using my internet bank ID.

KEVA

Keva is the largest public sector pension provider in Finland. I can find my own pension information from Keva’s service. Keva`s website showed me my pension calculation.

Digital shops

I use a lot of digital stores, most of the time I buy clothes for myself and my family. I use both domestic and foreign online stores, I do not use eBay mentioned in the order. I haven’t bought food from online stores yet, but I think one day I could buy it.

I find it easy to shop from the home couch and not have to run to the stores looking for a product. Sometimes a product bought from an online store is much cheaper than one bought from a store, it clearly saves money. Product information can be easily found in digital stores. Postage can, of course, raise the price of a product, so need to be precise about where to buy. However, the comparison is easy. I have used Booking.com to book hotels. I compare the hotels on their site with pictures and reviews of other hotel booking sites, where I find information and pictures of the hotel on other sites. I’m looking for the best price and of course the hotel has to please me anyway. I use the site to make a reservation.

Digitalization and digital gap

Many services are becoming increasingly electronic. It can bring difficulties in taking care of your own affairs, especially for the elderly. Therefore, services should be available both digitally and from offices.

My comments

Hi Suvi ! https://blogi.savonia.fi/suvituulia/digi-citizen/?unapproved=14&moderation-hash=aef87b021de19205b33e26377d255783#comment-14

It was nice to read your thoughts on being a digital citizen. The Viito app was completely unknown to me. That sounded interesting. I agree that ICT skills should be taught to children at an early stage. Skills everyone needs in their lifetime. It is not too late to learn the skills as a parent. The digital society should provide such education for all people!

Hi Anna-Kaisa! https://blogi.savonia.fi/annakaisamustaparta/digi-citizen/?unapproved=10&moderation-hash=72e42407c57d947053be48700df35a83#comment-10

It was interesting to read about your experiences with online shopping. I personally use online stores, but I haven’t ordered food from there yet, maybe in the future. Hopefully, local small businesses will thrive alongside big hyber markets.

Hello, Jenni! https://blogi.savonia.fi/jenninevalainen/digi-society/https://blogi.savonia.fi/jenninevalainen/digi-society/

You brought up important perspectives on the digital divide and access to services for older people. Your example of the challenges experienced by the elderly was concrete and similar situations exist. However, digital services have come to stay and it is important to help older people use services.

Digital competence test

I made a Digital competence test. My digital competence wheel was about 53 % and I think my results in test level is moderate.

Self-reflection

This course is both challenging and interesting for me. I have learned a lot. It has been interesting to read the experiences of others. Quite a few experiences with Kela, who is involved in different stages of our lives. Humanity and society have evolved enormously in recent decades, and nothing is stopping them from evolving.