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BPJS premium increase stirs controversy
“I don’t mind if the premiums have to be raised, but it should go hand in hand with quality services,” said 42-year-old freelance journalist Fira Abdurrahman.
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The Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) requires National Health Insurance (JKN) participants to, in some cases, obtain referrals from community health centers (Puskesmas) or clinics to be eligible for hospital checkups. (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
T
he government’s plan to raise the premiums for the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), which manages Indonesia’s national health insurance (JKN), has elicited a mixed response from the public.
For many, a hike cannot be justified amid the lack of adequate services and the complicated referral system patients have to go through to get specialized treatment, while others support the planned increase on the condition that services will be improved.
“If the problem stems from noncompliant participants that rarely pay any premiums, why do we have to shoulder the burden?” said 26-year-old Mega Pratidina, a resident from Surabaya, East Java, who regularly contributes to her mother’s BPJS Kesehatan premium for first-class service.
Similarly, 27-year-old Mayarani, who works for a private company in Jakarta and also foots the premium bills for her parents and siblings, said that if the premiums were hiked she would consider dropping down in the service class to ensure her family could remain insured.
Under BPJS Kesehatan’s premium structure, Mega and Mayarani are categorized as “independent workers”, meaning their premiums are paid outside of the cost-sharing structure between employees and employers. Aside from freelancers, workers in the informal sector also fall into this category.
The government has proposed doubling the premium for the first-class service to Rp 160,000 (US$11) per month per person, while more than doubling the cost for the second-class service from Rp 51,000 to Rp 110,000. The third-class service would rise by 64 percent from Rp 25,500 per person per month to Rp 42,000.
