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W.Kalimantan residents’ awareness of BPJS remains low
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Seeking coverage – Residents of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, line up to register for the National Health Insurance (JKN) program at the Pontianak Social Security Agency (BPJS) branch on Thursday. Every day, around 200-300 residents queue up to apply for the government-funded health insurance program. (thejakartapost.com/Severianus Endi)
T
he West Kalimantan administration has called on all parties to be more aware of the importance of health protection as less than 50 percent of residents in the province have registered in the National Health Insurance (JKN) program, which is managed by the Social Security Agency (BPJS).
According to BPJS data, as of Dec.31.2015, only 2,390,067 or around 43 percent of 5 million residents in West Kalimantan had registered in the BPJS program. Of the total, 353,468 BPJS holders are individual participants.
The BPJS West Kalimantan-chapter for the health sector director Unting Patri Wicaksono Pribadi said such a high portion of individual participants in the BPJS program could not be categorized as an indication of a high awareness among West Kalimantan residents on the importance of health protection.
“Most of the individual participants registered for the BPJS program only after they were nearly sick or had suffered from illness. In fact, we should not register for the BPJS program only after we get sick,” Unting told thejakartapost.com on Thursday.
Unting said he had prioritized facilitating registration for BPJS membership at the BPJS for Health sector office in Pontianak. Every day, around 200-300 people lined up to apply for BPJS membership.
A Pontianak resident, Sri Marti, said she recently registered for BPJS individual membership for herself, her husband and their child.
“I decided to register for this program as we want health protection, whatever it is. Moreover, I’ve heard that the President aims for all Indonesians to be covered by BPJS by 2019,” said Sri.
West Kalimantan Legislative Council (DPRD) member Maskendari said many people living in remote areas across the province were facing difficulties in registering as BPJS members. Many villages were too far away from a district-level area, let alone a regency-level area.
Maskendari said the BPJS must create a breakthrough to draw more members, especially those in remote areas, by providing mobile services or opening branch offices in district-level areas. It was also possible for BPJS to cooperate with non-bank financial institutions, such as credit unions, which had grown rapidly in many population centers across the province.
“They [BPJS officials] should learn from private insurance company agents who have expanded their services to remote villages. Such a spirit [of delivering services to people in remote areas] should be considered by BPJS,” said Maskendari. (ebf)
