BPJS Watch Urges Government to Issue Circular to Guarantee PBI
BPJS Watch is urging the government to immediately issue a joint circular to guarantee healthcare access for 11 million National Health Insurance (JKN) Premium Assistance Recipients (PBI) whose memberships have been deactivated. BPJS Watch Advocacy Coordinator Timboel Siregar said the conclusions from the House of Representatives’ working meeting with the government on February 9, 2026, have yet to provide legal certainty. The meeting, attended by the Social Affairs Minister, Health Minister, Finance Minister, National Development Planning Minister/Bappenas Head, and the President Director of BPJS Kesehatan, only mentioned reactivating PBI members for three months without clarity on the scope of coverage.
“What the public needs right now is the certainty of being treated when they fall ill. That must be guaranteed through a joint circular,” Timboel said in a written statement on Saturday, February 14, 2026.
According to him, the Social Affairs Minister’s decision to reactivate 106,153 PBI JKN members with chronic diseases has not addressed the issue of the 11 million other members who were deactivated. Many of them still require routine care, such as treatment for hypertension, diabetes, and regular health checkups.
Timboel also highlighted Circular Letter No. HK.02.02/D/539/2026 from the Ministry of Health’s Directorate General of Health Services, which prohibits healthcare facilities from turning away patients with temporarily inactive JKN status. He said the regulation is ineffective in practice because healthcare facilities still adhere to the provision that JKN services are only provided to active members. He cited the case of a North Jakarta resident whose child was turned away by a community health center due to inactive PBI membership status. Despite the circular, staff still required the family to process reactivation through the social affairs office first.
“Healthcare facilities are worried their claims will be disputed if they serve inactive members,” Timboel said.
BPJS Watch is therefore urging the Social Affairs Minister, Health Minister, and Finance Minister to issue a joint circular enabling sick PBI JKN members to be directly reactivated at healthcare facilities without having to process it through the social affairs office. According to Timboel, this solution serves as a middle ground between two extreme options: reactivating all 11 million members, which could add an estimated Rp 1.38 trillion to the state budget burden over three months, or reactivating only the 106,153 members with catastrophic illnesses.
BPJS Watch is also pushing the government to revise Government Regulation No. 101 of 2012 in conjunction with Government Regulation No. 76 of 2015 on PBI JKN to make data updates more transparent and prevent a recurrence of the turmoil.
Previously, 11 million PBI BPJS members were deactivated as of February 1, 2026. The sudden change in health insurance beneficiary data sparked controversy, including its impact on kidney failure patients requiring dialysis. According to a report by the Indonesian Dialysis Patient Community, 200 kidney failure patients were stranded at hospital registration counters after their BPJS Kesehatan membership was revoked.
In response to the controversy, Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf stated the government would provide a quota of 106,000 for deactivated PBI BPJS members to be automatically reactivated. This quota is designated for members suffering from chronic diseases. Health insurance beneficiaries with chronic illnesses only need to undergo reactivation through BPJS Kesehatan at the hospital. “Chronic diseases or serious life-threatening health conditions requiring long-term care, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and kidney failure, will be automatically reactivated so that healthcare services are not disrupted,” he said.