REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA --  By. Andi Abdussalam

About 140 million people will have medical insurance coverage next month when Indonesia's Law No 24/2011 on Social Security Management Agency (BPJS) in the health sector becomes effective in January.

The 140 million covered under the scheme will include 86.4 million poor, who were earlier covered by the Jamkesmas community health insurance. Others were earlier covered by various other health insurance firms, such as PT Askes (state-owned health insurance company), PT Jamsostek (workers insurance company) and the military/police institutions.

Based on Law No. 24 / 2011 related to BPJS, the social security management agency will consist of two administrations, namely the BPJS-Health on health security (to be administered by PT Askes) and BPJS-Manpower on social security schemes for workers (to be administered by PT Jamsostek).

As Law No. 24/2011 will become effective as of January 2014, the government hopes that the PBJS health scheme will cover 140 million people beginning next month and Indonesia's entire population (about 250 million) by 2019.

Vice President Boediono also visited the headquarters of the state-owned medical insurance company PT Askes on Wednesday to inspect preparations for the implementation of social health insurance.

Boediono stated that the implementation of the health service program must start on January 1, 2014 and that this date was non-negotiable.

"PT Askes is carrying out all the required preparations. PT Askes' President Director Fachmi Idris has assured me that the company has made all arrangements ranging from software to human resources, both at the headquarters and branch office level," the Vice President noted, while inspecting a public healthcare center (Puskesmas) in Cempaka Putih on Wednesday.

Boediono inspected the public healthcare center after visiting the headquarters of PT Askes, which will administer the BPJS-Health. The Vice President was accompanied by Health Affairs Minister Nafsiah Mboy and made the inspection as part of government efforts to ensure the effective implementation of the BPJS-Health scheme.

Idris noted that given the imminent implementation of the BPJS program, his company had already begun coordinating with PT Jamsostek since March this year to transfer and integrate Jamsostek's health insurance program (JPK).

It had also begun collaborating with the military and police institutions since July and with the Ministry of Health since September on Jamkesmas for the transfer and integration of similar programs.

The process of acquiring data from PT Jamsostek, military/police institutions and the Ministry of Health will continue until the end of this year. The integration will be complete and the data ready to use by January.

Vice President Boediono expressed satisfaction with the preparations of PT Askes. "I believe appropriate arrangements have been made. I hope the program will be implemented smoothly," he stated.

"If there are any pending problems, they will be handled once the scheme is implemented," the Vice President added.

BPJS, which is a public statutory agency, will commence its operations by January of 2014 and is expected to provide healthcare services to over 250 million Indonesians by 2019.

Under the scheme, the government will bear the medical insurance costs for around 86.4 million underprivileged people, while premiums for medical insurance for the working population will be paid by their companies.

"The system will be implemented by 2014. Under this system, poor people cannot be rejected by hospitals when they seek medical treatment," the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono stated recently.

All Indonesian citizens are required to become health insurance members of BPJS, including expatriates who have worked in Indonesia for at least six months and have paid insurance premiums.

To implement the BPJS-Health scheme in early 2014, PT Askes will require the services of at least 6,000 employees. Since it currently employs around 4,000 persons, PT Askes plans to ramp up recruitment of additional personnel.

In the meantime, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said employers should understand the implications of the implementation of the law on BPJS, particularly in the context of their roles, rights and obligations.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Kadin's Permanent Committee for Industrial Relations Affairs, Hasanuddin Rachman said that in the run-up to the implementation of the law, lots of things were still unclear and these could create problems.

He pointed out that one of the problems concerned premium payments. Regarding the BPJS-Manpower, the companies or employers will become the object (payers of the premium) in the program, thus creating an additional financial burden.

With regards to BPJS-Health, employers, especially private hospitals, will become the subject and object of the program at the same time. Therefore, matters relating to the amount of premium payments needed to be sorted out, Hasanuddin said.

He added that based on the law, PT Jamsostek would be transformed into BPJS-Manpower, which would handle occupational accident, old age, pension and life insurance programs beginning July 2015.

In the meantime, PT Askes would be converted into BPJS-Health, which will handle medical insurance beginning January 2014.

Unlike the premiums that have to be paid to BPJS-Health, he said, the amount of premiums to be paid to BPJS-Manpower were still unclear. "We are still waiting for the government's decision on the amount of premium payments that will be borne by employers, government and workers," noted Hasanuddin.

On July 4, 2013, the Tripartite Party (employers, workers and government) had agreed that from January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, some 30 percent of the health insurance premiums will be borne by employers. Beginning July 1, 2015, three percent of the premiums will be commonly borne by employers and workers/employees.

Unlike payments related to BPJS-Health, the mode and extent of premium payments for BPJS-Manpower were still unclear, according to Hasanuddin.

The Chairman of PT Jamsostek's Workers' Union Abdurahman Irsyadi urged the government to involve workers in the drafting of the government regulation (RPP) governing the implementation of Law No 24 /2011 on the BPJS.

The involvement of the workers union would help produce a regulation, which would address the aspirations of workers and will not face opposition.

"After all, the premiums collected by BPJS-Manpower and BPJS-Health are taken from the workers' funds. So, it is only fair to involve workers in the drafting of the regulation," Abdurahman said.

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