Information in brief: Reimbursements for travel costs

One of Kela’s responsibilities is to pay reimbursements under the National Health Insurance scheme for travel costs related to trips to a healthcare or rehabilitation provider. The following is a brief overview of the number of reimbursement recipients and reimbursed trips, the expenditure on reimbursements and of recent trends. At the bottom of this page, you will find links to e.g. statistics and studies on travel cost reimbursements.

Under the Health Insurance Act, Kela provides reimbursements for travel costs related to medical treatment and rehabilitation. 

In 2025, Kela paid EUR 364 million in reimbursements for travel costs to a total of 610,000 people. There were 4.6 million reimbursed trips.

Compared with 2024, the total amount paid by Kela in travel cost reimbursements increased by 6% and the number of reimbursed trips by 3%.

Kela pays the majority of reimbursements for travel costs to elderly persons. Most reimbursed trips are made by taxi. Costs calculated per capita are highest in regions with long distances, especially Lapland and Kainuu. In 2025, the number of ambulance rides decreased, while the number of taxi rides increased.

Kela’s expenditure on reimbursements for travel costs

In 2025, Kela paid out EUR 364 million in reimbursements for travel costs. Compared with 2024, the expenditure on reimbursements for travel costs increased by about 6%, or EUR 20 million, with the effect of inflation not taken into account.

A significant part of the increase in reimbursements can be explained by an increase in the VAT rate.

The reduced VAT rate on passenger transport, such as taxi rides, public transport and domestic air transport, increased from 10% to 14% at the beginning of 2025. The increase led to higher travel costs and thus higher reimbursements paid by Kela. The VAT increase does not apply to ambulance rides or reimbursements for the use of a private car.

Another increase was made to the reimbursement tariff that is used to calculate the costs of taxi rides.

About 4.6 million trips were reimbursed under the National Health Insurance scheme. The number of reimbursed trips increased by about 3%, or 100,000 trips, on the previous year.

Number of people receiving reimbursements for travel costs

In 2025, Kela paid reimbursements for travel costs to a total of 610,000 people.

There were about 3,000 more recipients than in 2024. However, the percentage of the population that received reimbursements for travel costs remained the same (11%).

Reimbursement recipients by age group

Kela pays the majority of reimbursements for travel costs to pensioners.

In 2025, the number of trips reimbursed by Kela was divided by age group as follows:

• 2.6 million trips reimbursed to persons aged 65 or over
• 1.8 million trips reimbursed to persons aged 15–64
• 0.2 million trips reimbursed to persons under the age of 15.

In monetary terms, Kela reimbursed:

• EUR 224 million to persons aged 65 or over
• EUR 127 million to persons aged 15–64
• EUR 13 million to persons under the age of 15.

Reimbursements for taxi rides

In 2025, Kela paid reimbursements for 3.3 million taxi rides to nearly 400,000 people.

The number of taxi rides reimbursed under the National Health Insurance scheme and booked through approved taxi dispatch centres increased by 2%, or about 100,000 trips, from 2024. The year 2025 saw the most taxi rides ever since the 2013 increase in the applicable copayment. The number of people that received reimbursements for taxi rides was the highest it has been in the past decade. The number of recipients has increased by nearly 30,000 between 2024 and 2025.

Most taxi trips, as well as other trips, are made by elderly people.

In 2025, Kela paid out EUR 227 million in reimbursements for taxi trips, which is 8% more than in 2024. The reimbursement amount per trip was about 6% higher in 2025 than in 2024.

The increase in reimbursement expenditure on taxi trips is explained not only by the growing number of trips but also by the increase in the reduced VAT rate on taxi trips and in the reimbursement tariff. Even though Kela selects service providers for taxi rides booked through a dispatch centre through regional competitive tendering, the cost of these taxi rides is still determined in relation to the reimbursement tariff laid down by government decree, which means that any increase in the reimbursement tariff is directly reflected in the cost of taxi rides. At the beginning of 2025, the reimbursement tariff was increased by 2.7%.

Nationwide efforts to reduce the number of ambulance rides may also have led to an increase in the number of taxi rides.

Three out of four taxi trips were made by a regular Kela taxi and one out of four by a wheelchair taxi or a stretcher taxi.

Reimbursed wheelchair and stretcher taxi trips are usually short, less than 10 kilometres. The distances customers travel by wheelchair or stretcher taxi have not changed significantly in the last six years. However, there has been a significant increase in the number of regular taxi trips of 50 to 100 kilometres. Their number has increased by as much as 37% since 2020. The number of long trips per capita has undergone the most significant growth in the wellbeing services counties of Satakunta, Päijät-Häme, Eastern Uusimaa, Kanta-Häme and Kymenlaakso.

At the national level, statistical analysis does not seem to show any correlation between changes in the distances travelled during reimbursed trips and the wellbeing services counties starting operations at the beginning of 2023. Trips were already becoming longer before this.

Wellbeing services counties have sought to balance their finances by e.g. scaling down their primary healthcare provider networks, which has also drawn more attention to Kela-paid reimbursements for travel costs. However, trips to public healthcare providers are relatively short and only make up a small percentage of all reimbursed trips. Some of the planned changes may not have been implemented in their original form or may not be implemented until later.

While the closure of care units means that many people will have to travel longer distances and spend more money on travel to receive care, remote services (such as digital clinics or mobile or at-home services) are also more widely available. Patients do not incur any travel costs for using these services. Therefore, these changes in the types of services available may partly compensate for one another when it comes to reimbursements for travel costs.

Locally, however, the situation may be different.

Reimbursements for ambulance rides

In 2025, Kela paid reimbursements for 430,000 ambulance rides to a total of 278,000 people.

The number of completed ambulance rides decreased by 2.5% from 2024. The number of recipients was smaller than it has ever been in the past 20 years.

In addition, reimbursements were paid for 50,000 ambulance rides where the patient was ultimately not transported at all but was treated on scene by paramedics following a doctor’s instructions. The number of such cancelled rides increased by 10% on the previous year.

Looking at completed and cancelled ambulance rides together, the total number of trips was 480,000. Using this approach, the total number of trips decreased by about 1% from 2024 and was smaller than ever since 2010.

Kela’s expenditure on reimbursements for ambulance rides came to EUR 96 million in 2025. This is almost 3% more than in 2024. Expenditure on reimbursements for completed ambulance rides increased by more than 2%, or by 4.4% per trip, which may indicate slightly longer trips than before. Expenditure on reimbursements for cancelled ambulance rides increased by nearly 10%.

By age group, the number of ambulance rides has decreased since 2022 especially among the oldest customers.

The decline in the number of ambulance rides is due to conscious efforts to decrease their use. National guidelines for the Emergency Response Centre Agency were revised in 2023 and now require dispatchers to apply stricter criteria when assessing whether an ambulance should be dispatched and to encourage callers to seek treatment independently. This may also be a reason for the increase in the number of taxi trips.

Reimbursements for the use of a private car

In 2025, Kela paid reimbursements for 750,000 trips made in a private car.

The number of trips made in a private car and reimbursed under the National Health Insurance scheme increased by 6% on the previous year. Reimbursements were paid to 56,000 people, which marks an increase of 3% on the previous year.

Kela’s expenditure on reimbursements for the use of a private car amounted to EUR 14 million, or EUR 20 per trip.

Savings in reimbursement expenditure could be generated by paying a higher rate of reimbursement for the use of the customer’s own car instead of the current EUR 0.33 per kilometre, with the assumption being that this would encourage some of the customers who ride in a taxi to opt for the more cost-effective choice of making the trip in their own car instead. For example, the tax-exempt kilometre allowance approved by the Tax Administration for trips made in one’s own car is EUR 0.55 per kilometre.

Most reimbursements for using one’s own car are paid for trips made by children and people of working age, while most reimbursements for the use of other modes of transport are paid to elderly people.

Reimbursements for travel costs by region

No matter what parameters one controls for, the main regions that stand out in terms of reimbursements for travel costs are Kainuu, Lapland, North Karelia and South Savo.

Other regions that stand out in the statistics are South Ostrobothnia for the amount of reimbursements paid per capita and South Karelia for the number of trips per capita. The lowest numbers of recipients and trips per capita and the lowest amounts of reimbursements paid per capita are seen in the various wellbeing services counties of Uusimaa, as well as in Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa and the Åland Islands.

In 2025, the highest euro amount for reimbursements per capita was EUR 157 in the wellbeing services county of Kainuu, while the lowest euro amount for reimbursements per capita was EUR 23 in Helsinki. Between 2024 and 2025, the largest increase in reimbursement expenditure per capita was seen in Eastern Uusimaa, where expenditure increased by as much as 16%.

In the figure below, you can toggle the view between the percentage of the population in receipt of reimbursements, the amount of reimbursements paid per capita and the number of trips per capita.

Reimbursements for travel costs under the National Health Insurance scheme and how to interpret the statistics

The purpose of reimbursements for travel costs paid by Kela under the Health Insurance Act is to ensure that every customer has access to treatment and rehabilitation using the necessary means of transport, regardless of the customer’s place of residence and financial circumstances.

Reimbursements cover the following:

• medical care provided by wellbeing services counties
• private medical care reimbursed under the Health Insurance Act
• medical services provided by occupational healthcare providers
• student health services in higher education
• trips to rehabilitation arranged by Kela
• accommodation allowance.

Kela’s reimbursement statistics only cover trips reimbursed by Kela. Reimbursements are paid for costs exceeding a copayment of EUR 25 per one-way trip and a maximum annual limit of EUR 300 per calendar year. Previous studies show that the vast majority of trips are completed without the customer claiming reimbursement.

Therefore, the statistics for reimbursements for travel costs do not represent all completed trips to a healthcare or rehabilitation provider.