Timely Premium Payments and Healthy Lifestyle Expected to Prevent JKN Deficit
A sociologist from the State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Dr. Tantan Hermansah, has explained the necessity of public education to encourage healthy lifestyles. For BPJS Kesehatan participants, timely premium payments are strategically important. Both measures, he argues, can prevent the deficit in the National Health Insurance (JKN) programme.
“The government has built only the system for BPJS, regarding how people should pay premiums. However, the public has never been educated to pay BPJS correctly and properly,” Tantan said when contacted on Friday (27 February).
“I am convinced that this deficit is not due to cashflow issues, but rather the problem that many people do not understand consciously that BPJS is so crucial for their health or their family’s health,” he added.
Furthermore, he stated that timely premium payments need to be balanced with public awareness of adopting a healthier lifestyle. According to Tantan, the government has been insufficiently aggressive in educating the public about consumption patterns and healthy living habits.
“Look at the current situation where children’s sugar consumption is extremely high and the government seems never to have provided education on this or other diseases caused by lifestyle and eating patterns. If education were provided from the source, JKN would not be expected to run a deficit,” he said.
Therefore, Tantan continued, the public will become aware and willing to pay BPJS Kesehatan premiums regularly because the programme is beneficial.
On the other hand, by adopting a healthy lifestyle, the public will not fall into the category of those vulnerable to illness. Especially chronic diseases that consume significant costs.
“Unfortunately, the education so far has been only that if you get sick, you will receive BPJS benefits. The paradigm should not be like that; rather, people should continue paying BPJS contributions. But healthy lifestyles should also be socialised massively and aggressively,” he concluded.
A member of Commission IX of the House of Representatives, Edy Wuryanto, has stressed that the sustainability of BPJS Kesehatan is important. However, increasing BPJS Kesehatan premiums does not address the deficit problem.
Data from the 2018 Basic Health Research Survey (Riskesdas) shows that diabetes prevalence in Indonesia reached 8.5 percent. A bone scan of more than 500,000 people across 16 cities revealed an alarming trend that more than 50 percent of them were at risk of osteoporosis.