Onerous, DPR Hajj Supervisory Team Highlights Health Insurance Cap for Pilgrims

The Hajj Supervisory Team (Timwas) of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) has highlighted crucial complaints regarding the limitation of the health insurance cap for Indonesian Hajj pilgrims who fall ill in the Holy Land. The current insurance rules are considered burdensome and disrupt pilgrims’ psychological wellbeing because they require patients to transfer to another hospital once the funding quota has been exhausted, even if they have not fully recovered. The criticism was voiced by Selly Andriyani Gantina, a member of the Hajj Timwas, after monitoring pilgrims’ health services at Saudi hospitals on Wednesday, 20 May. I deeply regret the policy limitation in the insurance contracted with the Ministry of Hajj for Indonesian pilgrims. It turns out there is a limit on the category of illnesses, where the insurance can only cover one type of illness with a maximum cost limit of 200,000 Riyals, Selly said, as quoted on the DPR website. The cost and disease-type limitations have direct impact on the ground, one example being Saudi German Hospital. When treatment costs exceed 200,000 Riyals or other disease complications arise, the hospital cannot continue treatment. “At the point when a patient or pilgrim has not completed treatment, they are forced to move to another hospital. Of course, this will be very disruptive psychologically and mentally,” she lamented. As a follow-up, Selly stressed that the DPR RI will promptly conduct a thorough evaluation of the health insurance scheme for Hajj pilgrims going forward. They are examining alternative financing that is more flexible, including a cross-subsidy system among pilgrims or direct payment methods according to medical needs on the ground. “Going forward, we will evaluate roughly which insurance is best. We are indeed seeking whether the system could deliver insurance with a direct payment system, according to the type of illness experienced by the pilgrims,” Selly said. Moreover, the politician compared this year’s health service with the Haj arrangements from several years ago. Back then Indonesian pilgrims received care until full recovery without tightly capped costs. “Several years ago, pilgrims received care until they recovered. Even after the Hajj operations ended, there were pilgrims still being treated and only discharged after full recovery, with some even undergoing heart stent surgery,” she recalled. Nevertheless, Selly acknowledged that the Saudi Government each year updates its Hajj policies. Therefore, the Indonesian government is urged to be more adaptive and careful in drafting the insurance cooperation clauses so that the rights and lives of Hajj pilgrims remain the top priority.