Govt to up subsidy for civil service medical insurance

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A new government regulation obliging the government to increase its subsidy for civil servants' health insurance premiums is now being drafted, an official revealed on Tuesday.

The draft regulation, which will serve as an executory regulation implementing the 1999 civil service law, stipulates that the cost of paying the insurance premiums is to be borne jointly by the government and the civil servants themselves.

"The government subsidy, the minimum amount of which will be equal to the amount that is deducted from a civil servant's salary, will go towards the payment of the insurance premiums. Under the new scheme, it is expected that the service will expand," general manager of state-owned health insurance company PT Asuransi Kesehatan Indonesia (Askes), Rosa Ch. Ginting, said on Tuesday.

Law No. 43/1999 on the civil service stipulates that the government, as the employer, has to pay the monthly premiums for every civil servant in the insurance scheme in the form of a subsidy.

The 1999 law is the latest version of civil service legislation that obliges the government to subsidize the cost of medical insurance premiums by as much as three percent of the salary of unmarried employees and six percent in the case of married ones.

Based on the previous regulation, the government currently only deducts two percent from the civil servants' salaries for the payment of premiums.

By comparison, the norm for monthly premiums in developed countries is between five percent and seven percent.

"The current two-percent deduction from civil servants' salaries has become a problem for Askes as the scheme members have complained that they are having to pay extra expenses as we (Askes) cannot cover everything," Ginting said after a meeting with activists from the Health Consumers Empowerment Foundation (YPKKI).

Askes currently provides cover for over 15 million civil servants and retired military and police personnel across the country.

A survey being carried out by the YPKKI since 2000 has found that besides the lack of government subsidy, many consumers complained they had to pay high prices for medicines that were not covered by Askes.

During the discussion, YPKKI coordinator Marius Widjajarta asked for better coordination between Askes, the hospitals and doctors.

"I would also suggest that the government establish a social health insurance scheme aimed at giving cover for poor Indonesians (in general). The money could be obtained from the savings resulting from the reduction in fuel subsidies," he added.