KELA, OMAKANTA AND KEVA
I am already familiar with the Kela and Omakanta websites from previous experience, and I use both sites regularly. Additionally, I also guide patients to use these websites to some extent. The Kela OMAKELA site and the Omakanta pages are both easy for me to use, and you can log in to both using bank credentials. I obtained the European Health Insurance Card years ago, but I travel abroad very rarely, so I have never had to use it. I also went to check my pension information on the Keva website, but I have no desire to include that information in this blog post. I know that there is still an incredibly long time until my retirement age, and I think that by the time I could retire, the entire system in Finland will have already been dismantled. The services provided by Kela operate alongside people’s everyday lives, supporting medication costs, sick leaves, and so on. However, when life takes an unexpected turn, many of us realize that Kela actually offers a wide range of services.
BOOKING.COM
I’m really bad at shopping for anything, especially from foreign websites, but I’ve been focusing more on the idea of “less is more” lately. However, last summer, while planning a vacation trip, I decided to explore Booking.com for the first time. I compared accommodation prices, searched for suitable places to stay, and looked into the offerings. Additionally, it was extremely easy and convenient to choose, book, and pay for accommodation through the site. I was also able to check in at many places directly from there, making the experience very pleasant. Especially since booking.com is available as an app on smartphones, making reservations was ridiculously easy to do directly from my phone, without having to call or text anyone. What was the price difference when booking a hotel room through an app or, for example, the hotel’s own website? Sometimes there was no difference at all, sometimes a few euros, and sometimes a bit more. However, I believe and doubt that apps keep any site free of charge, so how much does the hotel have to pay for using the app and for the rooms booked through it?
Healthcare applications
When I started thinking about a similar service for the healthcare sector, my mind initially went blank. However, pretty quickly, by just looking at the private sector, I found services like those offered by “Mehiläinen” among mobile applications. But there are indeed many applications available for aspects such as remote consultations, symptom tracking, medication tracking, stress management, and so on. Many people record their own health information in smartphone apps or collect data on their exercise, sleep, or, for example, alcohol consumption. For the time being, many services are still available through traditional means; prescriptions can be renewed by calling or visiting, health information is provided on paper or sent home in paper form. However, in the future, many things will certainly shift even more towards digitalization, especially for cost-saving reasons.
Digital skills and what did we gain from all of this?
I also took the opportunity to explore the digital competency test. I can admit that for someone accustomed to the fast-paced information and culture of today, the test was tedious, but at the same time, it was very enlightening about all the factors that influence our use of digital services. One also realizes that having used various digital services for so long, I no longer appreciate their use and the skills required to navigate them. At the same time, I find myself quite fatigued by today’s fast-paced society that produces an overload of media and information, so I regularly indulge in escapes to a remote cabin where phone connections and, even more so, any internet connections do not work.