Daily: Thousands' sick pay to expire, state can't find bank account numbers

The Estonian Health Insurance Fund (Haigekassa, EHIF) currently owes nearly 8,000 people a combined €700,000 in sick pay dating back as far as 2019, which it hasn't yet paid out for a curious reason — it can't find their bank account numbers, daily Postimees reported Thursday.
While EHIF notifies people whose bank account info they are missing via the Estonian state portal eesti.ee, it appears not enough people visit the portal frequently enough or at all, as since 2019 alone, the health insurance fund has been unable to pay out owed sick pay to nearly 8,000 people — including 1,000 new people just this year — solely because it's still missing their bank account numbers, the fund said according to Postimees (link in Estonian).
The matter is urgent, however, as the EHIF is subject to a three-year payment deadline, meaning that it can only pay out sick leave still owed from 2019, 2020 and 2021 before the end of 2022.
The health insurance fund is reminding everyone to visit eesti.ee to review and, if needed, update their contact info, including phone number, email address and bank account number, as various Estonian state entities need this information in order to get in touch as well as send documents and pay out various benefits.
In the first nine months of 2022, EHIF has paid out a combined €175.5 million in sick pay to nearly 296,000 people, €121 million of which has been in connection with sick leave.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla