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Health Minister clarifies universal basic healthcare for all, regardless of class
The health minister appears to have backtracked on last month's comment about a special policy for wealthy subscribers, clarifying that the national healthcare agency will continue to provide basic health services under a standardized “universal” scheme that will eliminate the current three-tier health insurance.
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A man looks through the window of the Bogor office of the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) in West Java on July 30, 2018. (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
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fter signaling earlier that he would set up a special National Health Insurance (JKN) program for the wealthy under the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has clarified that the facility would maintain universal coverage of only basic health needs (KDK).
“We have this package in Indonesia called KDK, which the poor, the rich, the young and the elderly can all access,” said Budi, as quoted by Kompas on Tuesday.
While the minister did not reveal what the KDK comprised, he underlined that coverage would be kept to a minimum in order to limit the impact on state coffers.
For example, he said, the basic services package covered surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy for treating cancer, but not immunotherapy treatments, which were more expensive.
“For the poor, these special packages will be covered by the state, but the rich will have to rely on private insurance,” Budi said.
Rahmad Handoyo, a member of House of Representatives Commission IX overseeing health and employment, that the standard inpatient class (KRIS) would replace BPJS Kesehatan’s current three-tier insurance plan, which categorized subscribers according to the premiums they paid.
“The basic service will be standardized, with the rich and poor given the same level of services for the same price,” Rahman told The Jakarta Post.
