62,685 Indonesians Fall into Poverty Due to Catastrophic Illness in One Month
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has disclosed several findings from the phase 1 ground checking of data on Indonesian individuals who are recipients of health insurance premium assistance (PBI) from BPJS Kesehatan and suffer from catastrophic illnesses.
The phase 1 ground checking was conducted from late February to March 2026, aiming to verify the accuracy of national social assistance recipient data for PBI.
Deputy Head of BPS, Sonny Harry Budiutomo Harmadi, revealed one crucial finding from the phase 1 ground checking. The finding is that catastrophic illnesses can quickly cause individuals to drop in social class, or fall into poverty, in a short time.
“It shows that catastrophic illnesses can rapidly diminish an individual’s welfare,” said Sonny during a working meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) in Jakarta on Wednesday (15/4/2026).
Sonny stated that out of a total of 106,153 people whose data was rechecked by BPS field officers through direct visits, at least 62,685 people dropped in class, from previously being in deciles 6-5 (able or non-PBI social assistance recipients for BPJS Kesehatan) to entering deciles 1-5 (PBI social assistance recipients for BPJS Kesehatan) within just one month.
“This indicates that within a few months, due to the data used for previous PBI removals from quarter IV-2025, when checked at the end of February to March, 62,685 people had dropped deciles,” Sonny explained.
According to Sonny, this class decline data was obtained because during the phase 1 ground checking process, BPS also supplemented the national socio-economic data (DTSEN) for 106,153 individuals. The data update included supplementing information on asset ownership and the value of those assets.
“One of the things we supplemented was the number of asset ownership and the value of those assets. Then, a re-ranking calculation was performed, and it turned out that out of the 106,153 people, 62,685 who were previously in decile 6 and above now dropped to deciles 1-5,” Sonny emphasised.
From these findings, Sonny urged the government, particularly the Ministry of Social Affairs, to be prudent in making decisions on deactivating the status of PBI JKN BPJS Kesehatan participants.
“Learning from previous cases, when people suffer from catastrophic illnesses, their welfare can drop quickly and they can fall to the lowest deciles,” Sonny stated.
“Therefore, this very much depends on the wisdom of the Minister of Social Affairs regarding those who actually suffer from catastrophic illnesses but are in deciles 6-10,” he added.
For information, catastrophic illnesses are severe diseases that require expensive financing and long-term treatment, which continue to be a concern for the government, based on the definition from the Ministry of Health. Examples of such illnesses include chronic kidney failure, heart disease, cancer, and stroke.