Social support in palliative care

What to consider when applying

• Where to apply: Kela

• Required attachment: Medical certificate B issued by a doctor

• Compensates for loss of income due to incapacity for work

• Payable for a maximum of 300 working days (about one year)

• If the illness continues for longer than a year, apply for a disability pension

What to consider when applying

• Where to apply: Kela

• Required attachment: Medical certificate C, or medical certificate B supplemented with the information required

• May also be granted to those receiving long-term institutional care

• It’s possible to apply for care allowance due to an incurable progressive illness even if functional capacity hasn’t yet been reduced for at least one year

What to consider when applying

• Where to apply: Kela

• Required attachment for reimbursements at a special rate: Medical certificate B issued by a doctor

• Reimbursement is granted once medical certificate B has arrived at Kela (starting from the date the certificate arrived)

• Annual maximum limit on out-of-pocket costs means the maximum amount you need to pay for your reimbursable medicines during one calendar year

What to consider when applying

• Where to apply: Kela

• Includes copayment

• If you need a taxi for health reasons, you need a certificate issued by a healthcare provider (Certificate for reimbursement of travel costs SV 67)

• Book your taxi using the centralised telephone number of the dispatch centre

• If symptoms of illness or other such reasons warrant it, you may apply for the right to a familiar taxi driver, based on a case-by-case assessment

What to consider when applying

• An annual maximum payment limit, also called “payment ceiling”, has been set for client fees in public healthcare

• If the patient has paid for services in both specialised healthcare and primary healthcare, the two can’t see each other’s situation in terms of the payment limit, and monitoring when the payment limit is reached and applying for a certificate are the patient’s responsibility

• Once you reach the payment limit, contact the client invoicing in your wellbeing services county or the applicable specialised healthcare service provider, depending on where you have reached the payment limit

• Once you have exceeded the payment limit, the wellbeing services county or specialised healthcare unit will provide you with a certificate about reaching the payment limit upon request

What to consider when applying

• If applied for due to decrease in functional capacity resulting from illness, travel assistance is primarily applied for as travel assistance based on the Disability Services Act.

• Where to apply: Disability services in your wellbeing services county

• Required attachment: Separate doctor’s statement. In the Helsinki capital region, medical certificate C (or a copy), or medical certificate B supplemented with the information required (or a copy), can also be used as a doctor’s statement.

What to consider when applying

• Where to apply: Kela, social services in your area of residence

• Basic social assistance: Kela

• Supplementary and preventive social assistance: Social services in your area of residence

  • You must apply for basic social assistance from Kela first

What to consider when applying

• Granted by: Social services in your wellbeing services county

• If the recipient of care is under 65 years old, informal care support is granted via disability services

• If the recipient of care is over 65 years old, informal care support is granted via services for the elderly.

• Required attachment: Medical certificate C (or a copy), medical certificate B supplemented with the information required (or a copy)

• Informal caregiver’s fee is taxable income

• It’s possible to request a reduced fee, if the reduction means that the fee will not impact other social benefits.

What to consider when applying

• Personal assistance is necessary assistance provided by another person in (everyday life) situations in which a person is partly or fully unable to manage on their own due to illness or disability

• The work of a personal assistant takes place both inside and outside the home, primarily between 6 AM – 11 PM

• A personal assistant does not carry out care procedures. In case the recipient’s needs for assistance mainly involve nurture, care, and surveillance, the needs should be catered to by means other than personal assistance.

• Where to apply: Disability services in your wellbeing services county

What to consider when applying

• Where to apply: social services in your wellbeing services county

• The application is submitted under the name of the deceased

• Some wellbeing services counties require a decision on basic social assistance to be made first

• Granted as a service

What to consider when applying

• Based on their own criteria, Kela and pension providers may grant so-called family pension, including

  • surviving spouse’s pension

  • orphan’s pension

• If you become a single parent, you may be eligible for a single-parent supplement to your child benefit

• Additionally, the spouse of the deceased, as well as any children aged under 22, may be eligible for benefit equivalent to group life insurance

• In case certain conditions are met, the right to compensation stands even if the deceased was on disability pension

• Employees of the State and local government, as well as agricultural entrepreneurs, are insured and eligible for a similar benefit. In these cases, the benefit is applied for from the Keva, State Treasury, or the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution of Finland pension providers

  • The terms of the insurance may differ from those of the employees’ group life insurance

What to consider when managing affairs following death:

• If the deceased was under guardianship, keep in mind that guardianship ends with death, and following death, the affairs of the deceased are managed by the estate or a specifically appointed estate administrator.

• If the guardian of a minor child is a shareholder of the estate, they are unable to represent their child in the estate inventory and will need a substitute guardian for the estate inventory.