A person entering the emergency care unit of a hospital in Kouvola, Southern Finland, on 22 August 2024. The Finnish government has come under heat for a proposal to restrict the health care rights of undocumented immigrants. (Mikko Stig – Lehtikuva)
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MINISTER of Finance Riikka Purra (PS) has likened nail care with the health care services of undocumented immigrants following international attention for a government plan to restrict the service rights of undocumented immigrants.
“To exaggerate, if nail care had at some point been incorporated into tax-funded services, its discontinuation would get the same reception today,” she argued last week on X.
“You can’t. We have to have. A right. Human rights. What will people think of us? That made me think that the idea isn’t limited to immigration.”
Purra made the post in response to a report by YLE. The Finnish public broadcaster highlighted last week that a government proposal to restrict the health care rights of undocumented immigrants has caught the attention of the Guardian. The proposal would reverse a decision made by the previous government to expand the rights from urgent to necessary care – to services such as abortions, certain maternity and child health services, and treatments for chronic diseases.
“Those who tabled this proposal pretend that we don’t have enough money for everyone and that full access to health care would invite more people to Finland,” Aino Tuomi-Nikula, an adviser at Physicians for Social Responsibility, stated to the Guardian.
We know this is not true, and that it’s actually cheaper to treat conditions in advance by primary healthcare than leaving them to emergency care. This measure is a political stunt to crack down on marginalised people and bank on public fear of migrants.”
Undocumented immigrants cause little health care costs in Finland, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), the newspaper pointed out, paid 300,000 euros to well-being services counties in the whole of last year for health care services provided to undocumented immigrants.
The Finnish government is nonetheless concerned that if the number of undocumented immigrants increased, their health care needs could pose a threat to both the health care system and central government finances.
Also the Finnish Medical Association has expressed its disapproval with the plan to limit the health care rights, pointing to the already vulnerable standing of undocumented immigrants.
“The government’s plan completely contradicts the fact that it has declared that it is working determinedly to promote equity, equality, non-discrimination in society,” the association said in a statement urging the government to scrap what it described as a damaging and problematic proposal.
The government is scheduled to bring the proposal to parliament next spring.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
