Health Minister's Story: From the Wealthy to the Health Ministry Secretary-General on the BPJS Health PBI List

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has disclosed that many wealthy individuals remain on the list of recipients for the BPJS Health Penerima Bantuan Iuran (PBI) subsidies. Even the Secretary-General of the Health Ministry, Kunta Wibawa Dasa Nugraha, was once included on that list. “If I may joke a little, Mr Kunta, my Secretary-General, was on it back then, yes, he was,” Budi stated during a working meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives on Wednesday (15/4/2026). Budi acknowledged that anomalies persist in the BPJS Health PBI data, as affluent people are still listed. According to Health Ministry data, there are still 47,000 BPJS Health PBI recipients who are not properly targeted. Meanwhile, from the Non-Wage Earner (PBPU) data of Regional Governments (Pemda), there are 35 million that are not properly targeted and another 20 million that are. Additionally, there are 11 million PBPU-BP Class 3 data that are not properly targeted. Budi said the government plans to redirect the PBI data to those who need it more. He assured that the government will integrate data and distribute the PBI to those entitled to it. “So there are some of our friends in Decile 5 who haven’t been able to enter PBI yet. Well, it’s better if we reduce those in Decile 10, the top 10 per cent richest, we remove them, and redirect their quota to Decile 5,” Budi explained. “Because we still see that there are quite a large number, tens of millions from the previous 159 million data that are not properly targeted,” he added.