Students leaving for an exchange are responsible for their own insurances and before going abroad should check their coverage. 

What you need?

Studies abroad: travel insurance and health insurance

Internships abroad: travel insurance, health insurance, liability insurance and accident insurance coverage - please make sure that your internship organization insurance will cover you or in case it doesn’t, make sure you will take care of adequate insurance coverage yourself!

Travel insurance

Student completing studies or internship abroad must have a personal travel insurance. Please make sure that the travel insurance cover is valid for as long as your exchange lasts and covers all essentials (eg leisure time and luggage unless they are insured in possible home insurance if your home insurance remains valid during the exchange).

Note that if for example you decide to hike to the tip of Kilimanjaro, most likely your insurance does not cover this and you need to buy an extra coverage for these kinds extreme sports. 

Health insurance and social security

Under certain conditions, a person leaving Finland to study abroad may continue to be covered by Finnish living-based social security during their stay abroad. A student is considered to be a person who is studying full-time for a degree or profession.

According to EU law, an EU citizen moving from one member state to another can also receive medical treatment in another member state. The right to medical care applies, for example, to the following types of travel: vacation, study, work assignment, job search. To secure your access to treatment, you need a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which can be ordered from Kela if you belong to Finnish social security.

Medical care is provided by each member state according to its own system. The European Health Insurance Card therefore guarantees you the same health care services as nationals in that country. If there are patient fees or deductibles in the country, you will pay them too, but no more. In some cases, you will have to pay all the costs first, and then you will apply for reimbursement from the health insurance institution of your place of residence.

The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) does not cover exceptional transport to Finland due to illness or accident, nor the costs of treatment by a doctor or hospital that is not part of the public health care of that country.

Further info on EHIC from European Commission web pages

When doing internship in another EU member state, please note that if you receive a salary for your internship, you might be considered to be employed by the internship organization and you may be excluded from Finnish social security. More information on Kela's web pages.