KELA

In the KELA page they say: Moving to a new home, birth of a child, illness – Kela can offer help in many life situations. It’s just like, is supportive at different stages of life. Birth of a child, care, health care, pension, etc.

In this section there was assignment: What are the services you use personally and in your family?

I don’t want to publicly say what kind of KELA services I use. It seems strange to me that such a thing should be told on such a public platform. In my opinion, it is a matter of privacy, which is also been handled in this course.

The most common Kela benefit is probably the child allowance, which is received from the child until he turns 17. The amount of child benefit is for the first child 94,88 euros and subsequent children are paid slightly more.

You can get general housing allowance from Kela if your income is low. The purpose of general housing allowance is to help you pay housing expenses. Housing allowance can be received by one person or a group of several people. People who live in the same apartment usually belong to the food council. Housing allowance is granted jointly to the food council.

If you become seriously ill, Kela pays sickness allowance. Sickness allowance compensates for loss of earnings caused by incapacity for work lasting less than a year. A medical certificate is required for sickness allowance. With an A medical certificate, you can usually receive sickness allowance for a maximum of 60 business days. After that, a B doctor’s report or other explanation of incapacity for work is required. Additional explanations may be requested earlier. Sickness allowance is paid after the deductible period. The deductible period is usually the day of illness and the following 9 business days.

European Health Insurance Card

I have had European Health Insurance Card for many years. It’s granted by Kela. You can get it if you are covered for health insurance in Finland or if Finland is responsible for your medical care costs. The card is available free of charge. With this card, you should receive medically necessary treatment when you travel or stay temporarily in another EU or EEA country, in Switzerland, Great Britain or in Northern Ireland. Medically necessary treatment means treatment that cannot wait until you return home. You may need such treatment in case of acute illness or if you have an accident. You can also receive treatment if the treatment is related to pregnancy and childbirth or to a chronic illness. Treatment is provided according to the procedures in the country where you stay. The doctor treating you decides on the kind of treatment that you will receive. You will not need a European Health Insurance Card in the Nordic countries where you are entitled to medically necessary treatment when you show a Finnish passport or ID card. (KELA 2023)

OmaKanta

I have used this service a lot and it works well. I can see there what doctors and other health professionals have written about me. I can see the prescriptions for the medicines prescribed to me there. I can also ask for prescriptions to be renewed there. There I can also find my information related to covid19, such as vaccinations. If necessary, I can also print documents related to my healthcare from there.

Pension

Assignment for this was: “Look how much pension you will get if you retire at 63 years, or 68 years (Keva).

First, I hope that at this point it was not intended to tell you the amount of your own pension, because it is again a private matter that I do not want to talk about publicly. I don’t think much else wants to either. Secondly, my pension insurance company is not KEVA, so I can’t see my future pension there.

But then I went to Ilmarinen’s website, where I saw the amount of my future pension. It was bigger than I expected. What was also surprising how much the amount of the pension increases if you continue to work until 70 years old. It was a little depressing that my pension time is ahead in 20 years at the earliest. I just have to hope that my health will last until then and I can still enjoy our freedom when it’s time.

Digital shops

I visited amazon.com. I’m looking there for the noise canceling headphones I just bought in Finland. The price was approx. 80 euros cheaper in store in Finland. However, I wouldn’t order because of that price difference from Amazon. I’d rather pay a little more to get the product faster, I can trust that the purchase is safe and that I know warranty issues will be handled more easily. The store in question seems reliable. I could buy stuff there that is not available in Finland or the price difference would be really big. However, I wouldn’t buy anything more expensive from these foreign stores.

Wilma

Wilma is Finland’s most popular teaching and learning platform, which creates a digital learning path from kindergarten to secondary schools. Wilma supports the organization and evaluation of the administration, as well as communication and information flow between home and school.

I use it in my work to monitor students’ learning progress, as a diary, to record and track absences, and to communicate with students, their parents and colleagues. Sometimes it is inconvenient and complicated to use. I often wish that its developers and the administrators of my organization would ask more about user experiences.

Digitalization and digital gap

I have discussed this little bit in my previous blog post. I am writing here about the position of one group of people in the digital society. I once worked in a prison and I think this point of view is interesting and thought-provoking.

The digitalization of society’s services has been progressing for a long time in the 21st century and has accelerated in the very last years and months, especially in the exceptional situation caused by the coronavirus. However, the situation in prisons has differed from the rest of society. The limited resources of the prisons have not given the opportunity for a digital leap, because it requires extensive investments, strengthening the skills of the personnel and investigating various security aspects. During the pandemic, a large part of the prison’s activities and meetings were limited or completely prevented. In the fall of 2020, digitalization also extend to the prison, when Hämeenlinna’s new prison for women opened. With that, the Criminal Sanctions Authority plans to gradually increase electronic transactions and services in other institutions as well.

The digital participation of prisoners involves many challenges, but also opportunities. In the research literature, it emerges that in addition to the prevailing attitudes in society, the attitudes of the prison staff towards supporting the digital inclusion of prisoners are also problematic. This includes, among other things, reluctance to change and fears of various security risks. Influencing attitudes would require, on the one hand, courageous leadership of change in the institutions and, on the other hand, also training new entrants to the field and reforming the education in some respects.

Digitalization offers new opportunities for rehabilitation and studying in prison. The opportunities for education during imprisonment become more diverse as digital technology is developed, and studies have been found to be important for the prisoner’s future prospects. Making studies possible is therefore one way to influence the prisoner’s attachment to society during imprisonment. Keeping in touch with relatives and loved ones during imprisonment is also seen to promote prisoners’ rehabilitation and integration into society.

Source: Laurea

3 Blogs I commented

Kaisa’s blog

Marjo’s blog

Sanna’s blog

Digital Competence Test

Self-reflection

The most interesting and instructive in this section was the Digital Competence Test. With it, I understood that I have something to improve in that I look even more closely at the things I publish about myself on the internet. Related to this is what surprised me about this section. I felt that I should have shared personal things about myself, such as things related to benefits and salary. Many had openly told how old their child was or how much their pension would be. I strongly feel that they are very personal things and this blog can be seen by everyone. That surprised me considering the context of this course. However, researching the amount of one’s future pension was interesting.