Hospitals reject Manulife policies

Hospitals reject Manulife policies

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hospitals have decided to reject PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife
Indonesia (AJMI) health insurance policies following the
bankruptcy ruling on the company, leaving some 200,000
policyholders in uncertainty.

Hospitals fear that the ongoing fiasco faced by the local unit
of Canada's giant insurer Manulife Financial Corp. could render
the company unable to pay medical bills.

The head of admissions at St. Carolus private hospital in
Jakarta said that as of Monday the hospital had decided not to
admit patients who relied on Manulife health insurance policies.

"We have turned down patients who have produced a Manulife
insurance card. We are asking them to pay with their own money,"
the official, Aurelia, told The Jakarta Post.

Another private hospital, RS Pondok Indah in South Jakarta,
also adopted the same approach last week.

Duty nurse Irin told the Post that as of last week, the
hospital had decided to cancel its business cooperation with
Manulife.

"The hospital issued a written announcement a week ago to
reject the Manulife health insurance card for an indefinite
period. Thus, policyholders of the insurance firm have to pay
their own bills, just like any other patient who did not have an
insurance policy," said Irin.

AJMI was declared bankrupt by the Commercial Court on June 13,
after a receiver of the now-defunct PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera,
the former local partner of Manulife via AJMI, filed a bankruptcy
petition over unpaid dividends in 1999.

The bankruptcy ruling became controversial as AJMI is a
solvent company, as declared by the Ministry of Finance, and the
shareholders did not authorize any dividend payment during that
period.

This paper previously reported that the ruling would put
policyholders in a quandary as the company has had to shut down
its offices until a final verdict is issued by the Supreme Court.
AJMI has made an appeal to the Supreme Court, which it will
determine within six weeks. But AJMI's top management said at
the time that there was no reason for policyholders to worry.

AJMI's director of claims Yuan Kurniawan confirmed that
several hospitals had rejected Manulife health insurance
policies.

"We have appealed to all hospitals in Jakarta not to reject
our insurance card nor to abandon our policyholders. We have
assured them that we'll cover their bills fully. However, the
hospitals have made their own decisions, and we regret the step
they've taken," Yuan told the Post.

AJMI spokesman Edwin Piorie said that of the company's 400,000
policyholders, some 200,000 had access to its health insurance
product.

As of Friday, AJMI decided to halt operations for the time
being. The company's 400,000 policyholders are unable to claim
payment and its 4000 staff remain at home.

AJMI conducts its business through a network of 72 branches in
33 cities throughout Indonesia.

Meanwhile, AJMI asked the Commercial Court on Monday to
replace the court-appointed receiver, Kalisutan, on grounds of
bias. The court will decide on Wednesday.

The company said Kalisutan was not a registered member of the
receivers association and he had previously filed an affidavit in
Hong Kong on behalf of a company linked to Dharmala.

Visiting Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific David
Kilgour also called for the dismissal of the AJMI receiver
because his apparent aim was to "ruin the company".

Kilgour raised the prospect that AJMI would shut down unless
the ongoing fiasco were resolved quickly.

Canada has previously urged the Indonesian government to
intervene in the dispute, but the latter declined to do so. The
case seems to have turned into a diplomatic row between the two
governments.

Manulife has been in a legal battle with Dharmala's founder,
the Gondokusumo family, since the firm acquired the latter's 40
percent stake in AJMI at a government court.

A Virgin Islands-registered company, Roman Gold -- alleged by
Manulife to be a front for the Gondokusumo family, which had
controlled Dharmala -- contested the purchase, claiming to have
bought the same shares two weeks earlier.

In a related development, Minister of Justice and Human Rights
Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Monday that he had started a bribery
investigation into the three judges who issued the Manulife
bankruptcy ruling.

The ruling was reached on a two-to-one vote, with presiding
judge Hasan Basri opposed to the bankruptcy decision.