Mehiläinen starts the freedom of choice pilot with a focused service model

Mehiläinen is participating in the freedom of choice pilot for people aged 65 or older starting on 1 September 2025. The pilot is launched in six locations: Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo, Turku, Tampere and Kuopio.

The aim of the freedom of choice pilot is to improve access to care for people aged 65 years or over and to secure the resources of public health centres for those older people who benefit most from the broad range of healthcare and social welfare services provided by health centres. The trial provides older people with the opportunity to visit a general practitioner at Mehiläinen by paying the public healthcare local user fee (€28.20).

– As this is a new operating model, we will join the pilot by focusing this service in some of our sites. In this way, we can ensure the functionality of the service model and offer high-quality service for all our client groups. In the first phase, some of our sites will provide the piloted service, and we will review our operating model based on carefully collected experiences. The operations will be expanded when we can guarantee a well-functioning service chain, says Business Unit Director Johanna Asklöf at Mehiläinen.

In addition to general practitioner visits, the freedom of choice pilot includes reimbursements from Kela for certain examinations and laboratory tests ordered by the practitioner. For these examinations, the clients pays 50% of the price. In 2025, the pilot will cover two visits with a general practitioner, and between 2026 and 2027, three visits per year will be reimbursed.

The clinics participating in the freedom of choice pilot are suited for the treatment of acute health problems such as flu or infections, as well as the monitoring of long-term diseases such as hypertension or diabetes. Statements, driver’s licence certificates, operations, medication given at the clinic, special examinations or consultations of other professionals are not included in the services reimbursed by Kela under the freedom of choice pilot.

The booking of appointments with the general practitioners participating in the pilot opened on 28 August 2025. You can book an appointment on the Mehiläinen website, in the OmaMehiläinen application, or by contacting our customer service by phone.