T

he National Social Security Board (DJSN) has complained that the national health insurance (JKN) program, which is managed by the Social Security Management Agency (BPJS), has yet to cover everyone, despite its mandate to ensure health coverage for all members of society.

'€œPrisoners, vagrants, displaced people, lepers and people with mental illnesses have yet to be covered by the BPJS,'€ DJSN head Chazali Situmorang said on Tuesday during a focus group discussion of the insurance program'€™s future.

Chazali said that the structure of the program had resulted in a lack of coverage for people without a permanent address.

'€œThe BPJS uses a household structure and domicile as the basis for the program'€™s membership, despite the fact that many people do not have a home,'€ he said.

Even when people obtained a BPJS health card, he said, the lack of medical facilities and long waiting times at a number of hospitals were issues that needed to be addressed by the next government, and he urged the new administration to synchronize all the regulations related to the program and maintain the availability of budget funds to optimize the program'€™s implementation.

On Jan. 1, 2014, the government established the BPJS, which unified two existing insurance providers: PT Askes, a national health plan for civil servants, and PT Jamsostek, a health insurance program for workers.

Deputy Health Minister Ali Ghufron Mukti said the government was working hard to improve the quality of the program, but emphasized that as it had been launched less than eight months ago, it was still in its transition period.

Ali said that all stakeholders needed time to adjust to the program, for which the government has issued a number of regulations in a very short period of time.

'€œFive new regulations have been issued within a year of the program'€™s launch, whereas it took several years to establish the cigarette regulation,'€ he said, referring to the recent regulation that requires cigarette manufacturers to print pictorial health warnings on all packets of cigarettes.

Ali said that now, a significant number of people was covered by the health-insurance program but added that they needed to have a comprehensive understanding of it to have it work properly.

'€œThe BPJS covers more people than the combined populations of Australia and Malaysia, and we need time to raise their awareness,'€ he said.

Based on BPJS data, as of Aug. 8, the program covered 126.4 million people '€” 96.4 million of whom pay monthly premiums of Rp 19,225 (US$1.58) per person per month '€” and cooperated with 1,551 hospitals nationwide. The program aims to cover the entire Indonesian population by 2019.

Meanwhile, Luthfi Mardiansyah, chairman of the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group (IPMG), said the health-insurance program depended on state budget funds as well as cooperation between both public and private sectors to ensure its success.

'€œThe next government should prioritize the program in its agenda based on the people'€™s shared wish to have a social security system. The president-elect has promised to raise the quality of health care,'€ he said. (idb)