Government guarantees 11 million inactive PBI recipients continue to receive healthcare services

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government, through the Ministry of Health, has affirmed that 11 million citizens impacted by the deactivation of their Penerima Bantuan Iuran Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional memberships will still be guaranteed healthcare services during the three-month transition period until the end of April 2026. Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin, during a working meeting with Commission IX of the DPR in Jakarta on Wednesday, stated that this commitment follows the agreement between the government and the DPR decided on 9 February. “The Ministry of Health has issued a letter for these 11 million people so that they are still served if they come to the hospital. The agreement is clear: during the transition period, they still receive their healthcare service rights,” he said. Budi explained that during this service period, citizens are urged to promptly undergo the reactivation process of their memberships, which has been facilitated by the Ministry of Social Affairs. This aims to verify the citizens’ economic levels based on the latest data. “The goal is data certainty. If after checking they fall into the capable group (decile 10), they are directed to independent participants. But if they indeed fall into the low decile, they will be immediately reactivated as PBI participants,” he explained. Commission IX Chair Felly Estelita Runtuwene, as the meeting leader, emphasised that according to the previous consultation meeting results between DPR leaders and the government, PBI for these 11 million citizens must still be paid by the state during the three-month period without distinguishing the type of illness, including catastrophic patients or chronic diseases. “How about it, Mr Minister? Number one repeated. I’ll read the first point… Our conclusion of the first point we see together: the DPR and government agree that in the next three months, all healthcare services will still be provided and the PBI will be paid by the government. Period up to there, Mr. It doesn’t mention the amount there. It mentions for all services, yes,” she said. The government has recorded payments for BPJS Kesehatan contribution assistance segmentation for 159.1 million souls or more than 50 percent of Indonesia’s total population. From that number, a total of 11 million memberships were deactivated in January 2025 because they were in categories outside PBI JKN beneficiaries, namely in deciles 1-5 of the National Socio-Economic Single Data (DTSEN), and their memberships will be re-verified. In the ongoing process based on the latest data obtained by the Ministry of Social Affairs, there are 246,280 beneficiaries who have received reactivation through Decisions (SK) in March. Then it increased to 305,864 beneficiaries reactivated for April 2026. Furthermore, 1,661,098 individuals who were previously JKN contribution assistance recipients have shifted segments. To date, the government through BPS together with the Ministry of Social Affairs is continuing the second phase of field validation for around 8.8 million out of the 11 million individual data to build an accountable single data base to ensure justice for truly poor citizens who need state contribution assistance.