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Experts warn about impact of premium hike on low-class JKN holders
Critics have predicted that Indonesia will see a surge in people downgrading their national health insurance plans following a decision by the government to increase premiums, saying it will hinder access to health care for lower class policyholders.
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An illustration of a patient at a hospital. (Shutterstock/File)
C
ritics have predicted Indonesia will see a surge in people downgrading their national health insurance (JKN) plan following a decision by the government to increase premiums, saying it will hinder access to health care for lower class policyholders.
The higher premiums, stipulated in the latest presidential regulation issued roughly two months after the Supreme Court annulled an earlier regulation on premium increases, will come into effect in July.
The first-class service premiums will increase from Rp 80,000 (US$5.30) to Rp 150,000 per person per month, and second-class service premiums will increase from Rp 51,000 to Rp 110,000 under the new scheme to reduce the deficit of the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), which manages the JKN.
The premium for the third-class service will increase by a smaller amount, from Rp 25,500 to Rp 42,000, and the government will provide a subsidy for this service category, allowing participants to pay only Rp 25,500 per month this year and Rp 35,000 starting next year.
“The higher premiums will trigger those who are registered as first- and second-class JKN policyholders to downgrade their plans to the third-class service, as they will prefer to pay a more affordable premium,” activist Timboel Siregar of BPJS Watch said recently.
Launched in 2014, BPJS Kesehatan covered about 224 million Indonesians as of February, or more than 80 percent of the population, with more than 30 million independent participants who pay the premium by themselves -- accounting for almost 14 percent of all JKN holders.
About 9 million of the independent participants, or around 29 percent, were first- and second-class policyholders as of February. While the remaining 21 million are independent third-class participants.
