Government bills14
- HE 111/2025 vpPassed with amendments
Medicine savings and deregulating self-care medicines
Prices of prescription medicines and pharmacies' gross margins will be cut, and the basis for determining the pharmacy tax will be reformed. At the same time, certain low-risk self-care medicines will be permitted for sale outside pharmacies and pharmacies will be given the right to deviate from prescriptions in situations of availability disruptions.
18 Dec 2025 · 12 votes90 jaa79 ei - HE 129/2024 vpPassed with amendments
Raising initial deductible for medicine reimbursements
The annual initial deductible for prescription medicine reimbursements will increase from 50 euros to 70 euros from the beginning of 2025 and will in future be tied to the national pension index. At the same time, pharmacies will be required to keep in stock and always offer customers the lowest-priced medicine option.
9 Dec 2024 · 3 votesClosest vote · Lausumaehdotus, mietintö / Hanna-Leena Mattila
103 jaa79 ei - HE 314/2022 vpPassed with amendments
Introducing pharmacy substitution for biological medicines
Pharmacies will be required to substitute expensive biological medicines with cheaper equivalents, known as biosimilars. At the same time, biological medicines will be brought within the reference price system for medicine reimbursements to reduce medicine costs.
21 Feb 2023 · passed without a vote - HE 245/2022 vpPassed with amendments
Lowering medicine costs and reimbursement expenditure
Medicine prices and state medicine reimbursement expenditure will be reduced by obliging doctors to prescribe the most affordable biological medicines and by expanding generic substitution for asthma medicines in pharmacies. In addition, pharmacy sales margins on expensive prescription medicines will be cut and pharmacy tax will be reduced.
13 Dec 2022 · 2 votesClosest vote · Lausumaehdotus, mietintö / Terhi Koulumies
99 jaa72 ei - HE 107/2021 vpPassed with amendments
Medicine price competition and pharmacy expansion
The establishment of new pharmacies will be made easier, particularly in connection with health and social services units and in busy commercial areas. At the same time, fixed pricing for non-prescription medicines will be abolished, allowing pharmacies to compete on price within the limits of their sales margin.
14 Dec 2021 · passed without a vote - HE 106/2015 vpPassed with amendments
Cutting health insurance reimbursements and copayments
Health insurance reimbursements for medicines, travel and medical care will be cut, and the copayments paid by clients will be increased. In addition, temporary additional fees will be imposed on operators in the pharmaceutical sector for 2016.
22 Dec 2015 · 5 votes114 jaa71 ei - HE 80/2020 vpPassed with amendments
Securing medicine availability during disruptions
The authorities will receive permanent powers to restrict and target the sale and distribution of medicines during severe supply disruptions. The reform will prevent hoarding of medicines and ensure an adequate supply of critical medicines for all patients.
24 Jun 2020 · passed without a vote - HE 295/2018 vpLapsed
Permitting price competition for non-prescription medicines
Pharmacies will be able to sell non-prescription medicines below the statutory maximum price by accepting a lower retail margin. In addition, medicines can officially be dispensed to customers via pharmacy pick-up lockers.
18 Apr 2019 · no votes - HE 99/2018 vpLapsed
Streamlining pharmacy establishment and medicine supply
Establishing new pharmacies will be made easier and pharmacy owner handovers will be accelerated. In addition, care homes and sheltered housing units will be allowed to maintain a limited shared medicine stock for residents' unforeseen acute needs.
18 Apr 2019 · no votes - HE 267/2018 vpPassed with amendments
Preventing falsified medicines and pharmacy agreements
Mandatory safety features will be introduced for prescription medicine packaging to enable verification of the authenticity of medicines and prevent falsifications. At the same time, pharmacies will have an obligation to check a customer's pharmacy agreement when dispensing medicines prone to abuse.
13 Feb 2019 · passed without a vote - HE 217/2016 vpPassed with amendments
Clarifying social assistance transfer practices
As basic social assistance is transferred to Kela, the division of work between Kela and municipalities, the forwarding of applications and the exchange of information will be clarified. At the same time, electronic payment commitments for pharmacies and the electronic transfer of rental data will be introduced.
2 Dec 2016 · passed without a vote - HE 29/2016 vpPassed with amendments
Harmonising taxation and tax collection procedures
Procedures for reporting, paying and appealing self-assessed taxes will be harmonised, and electronic communication will become the general rule. At the same time, time limits for tax adjustments will be shortened and thresholds for less frequent filing by small businesses will be raised.
8 Jul 2016 · passed without a vote - HE 76/2015 vpPassed
Abolishing university pharmacy compensation
The state will end the special compensation paid to the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland for the taxes and pharmacy fees paid by their pharmacies. The change will reduce the central government funding received by these universities.
17 Dec 2015 · 1 vote113 jaa71 ei - HE 128/2015 vpPassed with amendments
Halving medicine reimbursement savings in 2016
Planned savings in medicine reimbursements for 2016 would be reduced from 50 million euros to 25 million euros. The savings would be divided equally between increases in medicine users' copayments and fees levied on pharmaceutical sector businesses.
15 Dec 2015 · passed without a vote