Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela): Statistics on reimbursement entitlements in respect of medicines
Keywords
medicines
chronic disease
entitlement to special refunds
Classifications
Geographical classification
Municipality, sub-region, region, area for the regional state administrative agency, major region, Mainland Finland/Åland, hospital district, university hospital special responsibility area, whole country
Age classification
Ages 25-64
Classification by sex
male, female, combined
Data content
The indicator gives the number of people aged 25-64 entitled to special refunds on medicines as percent of population of the same age. Population figures refer to midyear population. An individual person may have one or more special refund entitlements in one or more refund categories. The entitlement to special refunds means that the person in question has some serious or long term illness requiring medication. Each illness has its own criteria upon which entitlement is granted. Application generally requires a statement from a specialist.
Interpretation
An entitlement to special refunds (75% or 100%) can be granted if the disease is chronic and severe and requires long-term medication. Some fifty diseases fulfil these criteria. To be eligible to receive special refunds, the patient must claim the entitlement from the Social Insurance Institution. A statement from a specialist usually needs to be attached for consideration by the Social Insurance Institution. All insured persons entitled to special refunds are registered by the Social Insurance Institution by disease. They account for just over a fifth of the total population.
An entitlement to special refunds fairly adequately describes the prevalence of chronic morbidity in the population. However, the indicator excludes allergies and a few musculoskeletal diseases, for instance. Allergies are especially prevalent among children, whilst musculoskeletal diseases become more prevalent in late working age and among older people.
The variable is based on register data, and it describes prevalence. It shows relatively little variation between years, and even smaller municipalities usually have a sufficient number of cases, provided that the analysis is not limited to very small age- or sex-based population groups.
Restrictions
Individual level data are confidential. For the sake of privacy protection, no municipality level data with less than 4 cases are published.
