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Benefits and Services

The Musicians’ Sick Fund is an insurance fund that operates as a supplementary fund for social personal insurance. The Musicians’ Sick Fund aims to promote the musicians’ ability to take care of their health and compensate lost earnings during their incapacity to work. The compensations paid by the sick fund are secondary to the compensations paid by Kela and the employer. The sick fund only compensates medical costs for treatment given in Finland.

The benefits offered by the Musicians’ Sick Fund include a daily allowance for loss of work due to illness, a compensation for psychiatrist’s consultation fees for applying for rehabilitation psychotherapy, a compensation for dental and hearing examination costs as well as purchase of hearing protectors, and remuneration of in-patient charges of hospitals and health centres.

The compensation and benefits paid by the Fund are secondary to those from other sources, such as Kela and the employer. The costs of treatment and research for an illness are reimbursed only for treatment in Finland.

The fund covers personal members of the Finnish Musicians’ Union’s sections aged 16 and over, with the exception of pensioner members.

The Finnish Musicians’ Union pays the insurance premiums on behalf of its members – by becoming a member of a section of the Union, you are automatically insured as a member and therefore covered by the Fund. In addition, persons practising in Finland as music performers or similar performing artists who have a customer agreement with Gramex may also be covered. These people may become insured at their own expense upon application, once the Board of Directors of the Fund has decided to start an insurance relationship.

The insurance relationship with the Fund ends

Special Prices for insured members on PlusTerveys Dental Clinic Services

The Musicians’ Sick Fund has agreed on new benefits with the nationwide PlusTerveys Group. PlusTerveys offers 10% discount on the list prices of its services. No office or billing fees are charged to insured members of the Fund. The benefit can be redeemed by presenting a valid Finnish Musicians’ Union membership card at the clinic. Reimbursements from the Sick Fund are applied for according to the usual instructions.

In addition, PlusTerveys offers other benefits to insured members and their family members:

These partner benefits are not treatments reimbursed by the Sick Fund, but additional perks that insured members or their family members pay for themselves. Partner benefits are subject to change, and any updates will be announced separately.

The code needed to redeem partner benefits can be found on the Member Page.

Read more about plusterveys

Daily allowance

During their incapacity to work, the Musicians’ Sick Fund pays its members a daily allowance for each workday agreed before the illness until the start of the payment of Kela’s daily allowance. The waiting period for which Kela does not pay a compensation consists of the date of the onset of illness + nine following business days. The Sick Fund does not pay a daily allowance for the day when the incapacity to work begins, so there is no reason to apply for a daily allowance for a single day.

The Sick Fund’s daily allowance is secondary not only to the compensation paid by Kela but also to the sickness pay paid by the employer. According to the Employment Contracts Act, the employer is required, if the employment has lasted for less than a month, to pay half of the agreed salary.

The amount of full daily allowance is the amount of agreed salary, but no more than EUR 90.

If the member is entitled, during his or her sick leave, to receive a portion of his or her agreed salary from the employer, the member is paid a partial daily allowance. The amount of a partial daily allowance is the difference between a full daily allowance and the amount paid by the employer. Under current law, the employer is often required to pay at least a portion of the agreed salary if the employment relationship has begun before the illness.

The employer should use the form on the reverse side of the daily allowance application to report on its obligation to pay salary and give the details of lost income.

If the incapacity to work has lasted so long that you have become entitled to receive compensation from Kela, you must first submit an application to Kela. Subsequently, you may submit a daily allowance application to the Sick Fund to cover Kela’s waiting period. The application must be accompanied by Kela’s decision.

The attachments of the daily allowance application include your tax card, the employer’s certificate of lost workdays and salaries, and your original medical certificate. If you first apply for compensation from Kela, do not forget to ask Kela for a certified copy of the medical certificate for the Sick Fund.

The Sick Fund withholds income tax on paid daily allowances.

Reimbursement of consultation fees for rehabilitative psychotherapy

The Musicians’ Sick Fund reimburses the costs of a psychiatrist’s opinion when applying for Kela rehabilitation psychotherapy. The maximum reimbursement is EUR 160 per year. The benefit applies to treatment periods starting on or after 1 January 2023. In practice, the reimbursement concerns treatment by a psychiatric specialist in the private health sector to provide a B certificate on the suitability of Kela’s rehabilitation psychotherapy for restoring the applicant’s capacity to work.

Opinions of doctors working in a specialised psychiatric unit (psychiatric outpatient clinic, mental health office, psychiatric department) in the public health sector are treated as opinions of a specialist psychiatrist. Under the Public Health Care Act, no fee is charged for medical opinions relating to rehabilitation, among other things.

The application must be made within six months of the date of the insured event, i.e. the date of the B certificate. In addition, the applicant must have been insured with the fund, i.e. a member of the association, for at least six months before the start of the three-month period of treatment by the psychiatrist.

The application must be made retrospectively to the Fund and must be accompanied by the bill for the psychiatrist’s treatment, the statement of charges and the B certificate or equivalent medical certificate. If the applicant receives reimbursement for a three-month period of treatment from Kela or any other possible third party, proof of this must be provided.

More information on applying for rehabilitation psychotherapy can be found on Kela’s website >

B-Statements for the 2nd and 3rd Year of Rehabilitation Psychotherapy

B-statements for the 2nd and 3rd year of Kela rehabilitation psychotherapy do not need to be statements from a specialist doctor. For the first-year application, a statement from a specialist/psychiatrist is still required, but after that a B-statement from a health center or occupational health doctor is sufficient. A B-statement from a public sector doctor costs a maximum of EUR 56.70.

The fees regulated by social and healthcare legislation are maximum fees. The welfare region decides whether to charge the maximum fees prescribed by law or regulation, or lower fees. The welfare region may also decide not to charge a fee, so fees may vary by region. In addition to the doctor’s statement, other fees may apply depending on the case, such as outpatient clinic fees.

Dental care compensation

The Musicians’ Sick Fund compensates expenses for dental care or prosthetic dental care to those who have been its members for at least a year. Since 2021 the compensation is up to EUR 160 for expenses incurred during a calendar year. If the care is necessary in order to maintain professional competence or for aesthetic reasons required by the profession, it is possible to obtain additional compensation of up to EUR 110 for expenses incurred during a calendar year. What is necessary for professional competence is separately assessed in each individual case. For example, dental care given to wind players is, in most cases, considered necessary to maintain professional competence.

Dental care for front and canine teeth can be compensated on a aesthetic ground.

Dental care compensation is secondary to the compensation paid by the employer or Kela. For this reason, you should wait until you receive a reimbursement decision from elsewhere and only then submit an application to the Sick Fund for the non-reimbursed portion. The application must be accompanied by a receipt of the compensation paid by Kela or the employer.

When you submit a compensation application to the Sick Fund, you should always attach an itemized list of treatments provided by your dentist and the receipt for the payment of the dentist’s fee as original copies. If you submit the original documents to Kela, you must attach their copies certified by Kela to the application submitted to the Sick Fund.

If you receive annual compensation from your employer under, for example, the collective agreement, you must enclose the application with receipts for the use of the compensation in the year in question.

Compensation for hearing examination costs

The Finnish Musicians’ Union compensates its members who are not entitled to occupational health care for costs arising from the examination of their hearing up to EUR 45 every three years. If you receive full compensation for examination costs from elsewhere, that compensation is primary to the compensation received from the Sick Fund.

Other conditions for payment of this compensation include a six months’ membership in the Sick Fund and supporting documentation on the conducted examination and the costs incurred.

Ear protectors and in-ear monitors

The Musicians’ Sick Fund compensates a portion of the purchase price of custom-fit ear protectors and in-ear monitors intended for professional use. Compensation will be paid to members of the Sick Fund who do not have an employer with a statutory health protection obligation to provide protection against noise.

So far, the following hearing protectors have been approved as protectors to be compensated:

The following in-ear monitors have been approved as monitors to be compensated:

* Uusikuulo Oy offers the members of the Finnish Musicians’ Union a 20 per cent discount from individualised Elacin ER hearing protectors. You can claim the benefit by showing your member card at Uusikuulo store.

The share of the Sick Fund is 50% of the purchase price of the hearing protectors, but no more than EUR 100.

Procedure for applying compensation on hearing protectors

  1. Fill in the application form and submit it to the Union office. Click the link below to print the form or pick it from the Finnish Musicians’ Union office.
  2. The Musicians’ Sick Fund will process the application and, if approved, will give you a promissory note.
  3. After receiving the promissory note, you may purchase the hearing protectors.
  4. The buyer pays the deductible and the supplier of the hearing protectors charges what is left to the Sick Fund.

In-patient charges by hospitals and health centres

The Musicians’ Sick Fund compensates the in-patient charges by hospitals and health centres in accordance with the lowest payment category of a central hospital’s operational unit, other than a psychiatric unit, and for at most 10 days (treatment in an in-patient ward) for the same illness.

To be entitled to the compensation of in-patient charges, the person must have been a member of the Sick Fund for at least six months. The application must be enclosed with a receipt of the in-patient charges paid and a proof of the number of days spent in the ward.

Application procedure

You must submit an application for a compensation to the Musicians’ Sick Fund within six months of the date that you became entitled to compensation. After this deadline, the Board of the Sick Fund may only grant compensation for a special reason.

To apply for compensation, use the application form available at the Finnish Musicians’ Union office or online. The forms also list the attachments needed in various scenarios.

To get compensation for hearing protectors, you need to get a promissory note from the Sick Fund before purchasing them. Other compensations are paid against a receipt/medical certificate directly to the applicant.

Application forms are available at the Finnish Musicians’ Union office.

Attachments to the application

The main documents to be enclosed with the application include a medical certificate, an itemised list of treatments provided by a dentist, a receipt for a dentist’s fee or hearing examination, Kela’s reimbursement decision, a receipt for dental treatment paid by Kela and a description of any reimbursement received from elsewhere. Applications for a daily allowance must also be accompanied by your tax card and your employer’s statement on lost workdays. Applications for reimbursement of in-patient charges must be accompanied by a receipt of charges paid and proof of the number of days spent in the ward.

Waiting period

Waiting period is the minimum period that you must be a member before receiving compensation.

According to the rules of the Musicians’ Sick Fund, the daily allowance for incapacity to work, the in-patient charges by hospitals and health centres (treatment in an in-patient ward) and compensation for hearing examination costs can be paid to a person who has been a member of the Sick Fund for at least six months.

The costs of dental care can be reimbursed to a person who has a member of the Sick Fund for at least a year.

For a hearing protector compensation, the limit is an 18-month membership in the Sick Fund.