Kela, abbr. from fi, Kansaneläkelaitos, sv, Folkpensionsanstalten (Fpa), en, The Social Insurance Institution (SII), is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

government agency in charge of settling benefits under national

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

programs. Kela was founded in 1937 to handle retirement pay. In the 1980s and 1990s, its role was expanded to handle other fields like

child benefit Child benefit or children's allowance is a social security payment which is distributed to the parents or guardians of children, teenagers and in some cases, young adults. A number of countries operate different versions of the program. In most co ...

unemployment benefit Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...

sickness benefit Disability benefits are funds provided from public or private sources to a person who is ill or who has a disability. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom disability benefits are covered by Department for Work and Pensions. There are numerous ben ...

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

and

student financial aid Student financial aid (or student financial support, or student aid) is financial support given to individuals who are furthering their education. Student financial aid can come in a number of forms, including scholarships, grants, student loans, a ...

. Kela benefits are funded from three national insurance funds administered by national government: the national pension fund, the national health insurance fund, and the general social security fund. The tax authority (Vero) collects contributions to these funds from general taxation on income, charged to both employers and employees. Rates for 2021 are available on the Vero web site. Coverage under the schemes is given to all permanent residents of Finland. ''Kansaneläkelaitos/Folkpensionsanstalten'' literally means "People's Pension Institute", reflecting its original function as the national provider of retirement benefits.

History

Kela was founded in 1937 during the first SDP-Agrarian coalition under

Aimo Kaarlo Cajander Aimo Kaarlo Cajander (4 April 1879 – 21 January 1943) was the Prime Minister of Finland up to the Winter War. Cajander was born in Uusikaupunki, and became a botanist, a professor of forestry 1911–34; director-general for Finland's Fore ...

as a means to relieve societal inequality and instability by providing a social safety net organisation.

Directors general

Incidents

In May 2008, a Kela e-service apparently disclosed confidential medical insurance information to the wrong client, and subsequently Kela took that service offline.

References

External links

* Medical and health organisations based in Finland Social security in Finland Unemployment benefits {{Finland-gov-stub