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View all search resultsSave healthcare
We need to create better schemes to allow for premiums to increase, which will eventually help improve service, while keeping the poor still insured.
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A Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) official helps a customer on May 14, 2024, at the agency's South Jakarta office. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
A
decade after the government launched the National Health Insurance (JKN) program, millions of Indonesians now have insurance that might otherwise have been unaffordable.
Insuring the poor with the help of government subsidy, the JKN is much needed, even when basic care and doctors remain limited in many parts of the country.
The JKN now covers over 280 million people, or about 98 percent of the population, according to Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) data in October, up from 133 million during its debut in 2014.
Government-subsidized policyholders make up the majority at around 63 percent. Their premiums are fully paid either by the central government or the regional administrations.
Nearly 24 percent of total policyholders are private sector and public employees with 5 percent of monthly salary deducted for JKN premiums, capped at Rp 600,000 (US$35). The rest are either self-employed or unemployed individuals, such as retirees, who pay premiums out of pocket.
Offering a broad healthcare plan, from dental to mental health services, JKN is exceptionally cheaper than private insurance plans.
Still, too many people do not pay their JKN premiums, which contributes to financial strain at the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) amid rising health treatment costs.
