Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Photo: AFP/VNA)Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo has decided to raise the premiums for the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJSKesehatan), roughly two months after the Supreme Court annulled his earlierdecision to do so.
The higher rates are stipulated in Presidential Regulation(Perpres) No. 64/2020 on health insurance signed by the president on May 5. The Perpresis the second amendment of the previous regulation, Perpres No. 82/2018, on thesame matter.
Under a new regulation, thepremium for the first-class service was raised to 150,000 rupiah (10.11 USD)per month per person from 80,000 rupiah, almost doubling the cost for thesecond-class service from 51,000 rupiah to 100,000 rupiah.
The premium for the third-class service was increased by asmaller amount, from 25,500 rupiah to 42,000 rupiah, and the government willprovide a 7,000-rupiah subsidy for this service category, so participants onlyhave to pay 35,000 rupiah.
The decree also states that the premium raise only appliesto workers who pay their premiums independently, rather than paying through acost-sharing structure between employees and employers.
According to the decree, the hike takes effectimmediately.
BPJS Kesehatan provides universal health insurance coveragefor 265 million Indonesians, or about 83 percent of the total population.
In October last year, President Widodo signed a decree stipulatinga similar rise for BPJS Kesehatan premiums in an attempt to reduce the deficitof the national health insurance fund. However, the Supreme Court revoked theregulation in March, arguing that the provision violated a number of prevailinglaws.
The BPJS Kesehatan recorded a 28-trillion-rupiah cashdeficit at the end of 2019, of which 9 trillion rupiah carried over from theprevious year./.
VNA
