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any employers remain in a quandary over how they should subscribe their workers to the government'€™s universal health care coverage program, which is scheduled to be implemented on Jan. 1, 2014.

The 2011 Social Security Providers (BPJS) Law mandates two forms of social coverage, including the universal health care coverage program, which will make both employers and their workers liable for premiums at different rates.

But Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) public policy and advocacy division head Anthony Hilman said on Wednesday the government had so far failed to explain how companies could switch from insurance provided by private insurance companies to that of the government program.

'€œWe want the government to allow companies subscribing to private insurance firms not to join the national healthcare program until their contracts with respective insurance firms expire,'€ he said on the sidelines of a seminar set up by Apindo, adding different contracts might expire at different times.

He said companies could not bear the financial burden of penalties given by private insurance firms if the former terminated contracts unilaterally.

He said subscribing to the national healthcare program while waiting for contracts with private insurance firms to expire was not a viable option either as it would cost the companies more.

Likewise, industrial estate developer Kawasan Industri Jababeka director Hyanto Wihadhi said his company would continue using services from a private insurance firm to cover its employees'€™ healthcare until he was well-informed on the program.

Anthony said he did not have data on the number of companies subscribing to private insurance companies.

But of a total of 11.5 million workers registered with state-owned insurance firm PT Jamsostek, only about 3.5 million subscribed to the firm'€™s health care program, while others subscribed to other services, he said.

'€œI estimate 4 million of the remaining 8 million have their health care covered by private insurance companies,'€ he said.

Anthony suggested the government cooperate with private insurance companies in their national heath care insurance system to ease companies'€™ confusion about the program and improve its health care service quality.

'€œThe quality of services given by private firms is better than that provided by the government as private firms are profit-oriented,'€ he said.

'€œPrivate firms are willing to provide various services as long as their clients are willing to pay for them.'€

National Economic Committee (KEN) member Ninasapti Triaswati said the government needed to decide on strategies to implement its national health care program and to inform the public, especially businesspeople, to stymie confusion among them.

'€œHowever, the government still faces an obstacle to accomplish that as members of executive and legislative bodies can'€™t reach a consensus on the program'€™s implementation strategies,'€ she said on Wednesday during an Apindo seminar on social security and minimum wages. (ogi)