JAKARTA: The Indonesian government will inject 20 trillion rupiah (US$1.1bil) into national health insurance provider BPJS Kesehatan this year to strengthen its finances and ability to pay claims to health facilities, Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara says.
“We have reported to the president that the state budget includes an additional 20 trillion rupiah for health insurance,” Suahasil said at a press conference following a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto.
“This is separate from the budget for paying premiums for 96.8 million (insurance subsidy) recipients, worth around 47 trillion rupiah.”
He said the additional funds would support BPJS Kesehatan’s financing in October and November, with 10 trillion allocated each month, to ensure that hospital claims could continue to be paid.
Suahasil also called for improvements in premium collection from regular BPJS Kesehatan participants and greater accuracy in the data used to determine recipients of government-funded premium assistance.
BPJS Kesehatan president director Prihati Pujowaskito said the agency had collected 118 trillion rupiah in premiums as of September, while it had paid 132 trillion rupiah in healthcare benefits, leaving a cash flow deficit of around 14 trillion rupiah.
The gap, he said, had been driven by several factors, including the number of inactive paying participants, the lack of premium adjustments over the past six years, medical inflation, population growth, changes in disease patterns and increased utilisation of healthcare services.
Around 52 million BPJS Kesehatan participants are currently inactive, Prihati said.
If inactive participants resumed paying their premiums, their contributions could reach around two trillion per month, or about 24 trillion rupiah annually.
Prihati said BPJS Kesehatan would also seek to curb fraud and change the way healthcare providers are reimbursed, shifting from a volume-based model towards value-based care.
Under the current system, he said, providers can have an incentive to perform more procedures because their payments increase with service volume. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
