Firm, MP criticize insurance bill
Firm, MP criticize insurance bill
Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta
The bill on social security will add a greater burden to
employees, who will be required to pay premiums for their
insurance, an insurance firm director said.
Jamsostek finance director Widjokongko Puspoyo said that under
the social security system bill, employees would be obliged to
pay for part of their own premium for health insurance, which is
now covered entirely by employers.
"For health insurance policy holders, the new social security
system scheme will create workers' resistance," he said during a
hearing with House Commission VII on labor affairs.
The bill, Widjokongko said, would also spark more controversy
due to an article saying retirees would receive the minimum
pension amount, while the present scheme states that pension
funds would be a certain amount of money taken from the last
salary.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator
Rekso Ageng Herman also said that the social insurance bill would
not work if it remained unrevised.
"The bill suggests a combination of insurances - health,
accident, retirement protection, pension and life insurances,
which are not applicable. The bill needs revision," he said.
He sought clarity over who would cover any claim if the
government body authorized to run the social insurance program
went bankrupt.
"The bill must not be endorsed hastily. We should discuss it
carefully," he said.
State pension insurance company PT Taspen director Ahmad
Subianto said he disagreed with the plan to put Taspen into the
new social security system.
The government has submitted to the House of Representatives a
draft law on social insurance that would cover health, accident,
pension, life and retirement.
The bill stipulates that employees and employers would share
the burden of paying premiums.
For accident insurance, the bill states that the employers
would cover the entire premium.
In the case of poor people, the bill says the government would
provide subsidies or cover all of their premiums, but it would be
further regulated under a government regulation.
At present, workers in government institutions and the private
sector are registered with one of the insurance firms PT Askes,
Asabri, Taspen and Jamsostek. Civil servants, for example, do not
pay accident insurance premiums.
The bill also states that a non-profit body would be
established to run the social security system.
The existing social insurance firms: PT Jamsostek, PT Askes,
PT Asabri and PT Taspen will maintain their roles, but they must
gradually adjust their programs to the social security system
law.