T

he government needs to assign more money to the national health insurance (JKN) so services at hospitals can improve, an expert said.

Hasbullah Thabrany from the University of Indonesia, who is also a doctor, said that the monthly premium paid by the government per person under the JKN was not enough to cover services provided by participating hospitals.

Under the current scheme, the government pays Rp 19,225 (US$1.61) per person per month for poor patients eligible for the JKN program.

Hasbullah said the ideal payment should be at least Rp 54.000, which would enable patients to receive quality private hospital treatment.

'€œThe [current] fee is below market price. For example, a private clinic needs Rp 20,000 per JKN patient per month, so a private hospital needs more than that,'€ Hasbullah said.

Hasbullah said that the government needed to increase the subsidy payment as currently the rate was set under the 2004 law on the national social security system (SJSN).

He also said that a government payment increase could be an incentive for foreign and local healthcare providers to start investing in the national program.

'€œThe government needs to set a new figure this year, otherwise it would be catastrophic: People would loose all faith in this program,'€ he said.

Part of the funding problems related to a lack of understanding by the Social Security Management Agency for Health (BPJS Kesehatan), hospitals and the government toward a new payment system, the Indonesia case-based group (INA-CBG), Hasbullah said.

INA-CBG is a new fee-for-diagnostic reimbursement system, implemented in the Kartu Jakarta Sehat (KJS) program under Jakarta Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s administration. The system replaced the old fee-for-service reimbursement system of the former healthcare program (Jamkesmas).

The INA-CBG needs BPJS Kesehatan, formerly PT Askes, to make the system work, as before PT Askes managed the regional health insurance (Jamkesda). Jamkesda itself was a regional level program under Jamkesmas.

Kalsum Komaryani, Health Ministry health funding division head, acknowledged that the government, BPJS Kesehatan and hospitals lacked information on the system.

Zaenal Abidin, the chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), said it would be a while before the government provided quality healthcare for all its citizens.

'€œI think we should wait for the government to act in the next three or six months,'€ Zaenal said. (gda)