40 million poor to get free health services

40 million poor to get free health services

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The country's 40 million poor people may enjoy free health
services if a bill drafted by the government gets the nod from
members of the House of Representatives (DPR).

The bill, which is soon to be submitted to the House for
deliberation, suggests that the government allocate up to Rp 3
trillion (US$360 million) annually to pay health insurance
premiums for the country's poor.

The draft, which took the government two years to prepare, was
finalized in a cabinet meeting chaired by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri on Thursday.

"Under the proposed bill, the state is obliged to allocate
funds from the budget to pay insurance premiums for the country's
poor," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla
said after the cabinet meeting.

According to Jusuf, the government would still decide whether
to give the money directly to regional administrations or to
appoint an insurance company to manage the funds.

"Either way, the government will fully cover the insurance
fees," Jusuf said.

The announcement of the scheme comes just months before the
country holds its first direct presidential election on July 5,
2004. Should the election fail to produce a clear winner, a
second round would be held in September.

The ministry of health had formulated the national
health-insurance scheme as far back as 2001.

Under the scheme, called the National Health Insurance (JKN),
each Indonesian citizen would be encouraged to obtain a health
insurance card guaranteeing them basic medical care across the
country.

The health-insurance scheme is part of the National Social
Security System (SJSN) which will also cover life insurance and
workers' welfare, as well as severance payments and pensions, as
required by the amended 1945 Constitution.

Jusuf said to identify the poor, the government would use
existing data from the National Statistics Agency (BPS), which
just finished its national census in 2003.

In the cabinet meeting, the government also agreed to move
ahead with its program to build low-cost housing complexes or
apartments across the country.

The program, dubbed the "one million houses" project, is
slated to begin as soon as possible. The government has allocated
some Rp 628 billion to initiate the huge project.

"Should we provide housing for (the country's) six million
homeless, we would need around Rp 15 trillion. We will cooperate
with Bank Indonesia to use its liquidity excess to finance the
project," Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun
Kuntjoro-Jakti said.

The first priority, according to Jusuf, was to set up 120,000
low-cost houses for civil servants by the end of this year.

Dorodjatun said the government and the central bank were
developing a scheme for the housing project, including sharing
the interest burden of those who wanted to buy the low-cost
houses or apartments.

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (BPPN), which will be
disbanded next month, will provide land worth Rp 150 billion for
the project.

Dorodjatun also said that along with the housing project, the
government would introduce the Kampong Improvement Program, which
would aim to develop 10,000 slum areas and restore 14.5 million
shanty houses across the country.

"We will finalize the programs in the next two weeks,"
Dorodjatun said.