5.2 Million PBI Participants Removed from BPJS’s Coverage

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As many as 5.2 million PBI participants of the National Health Insurance and Healthy Indonesia Card (JKN-KIS) program will have their coverage removed on Aug. 1 because they will no longer be registered in the database of the Social Affairs Ministry.

PBI members are participants of the JKN-KIS program who receive a subsidy from the government for the payment of their insurance premiums. The program is managed by the Healthcare and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan).

Information related to the removal of PBI membership will soon be disseminated so it will not cause social problems.

Based on Social Affairs Ministerial Regulation No. 79/2019 concerning the decommissioning and amendment of data on participants in the 2019 health insurance contribution, as many as 5,227,852 people are no longer registered as recipients of subsidies for the payment of premiums in the JKN-KIS program.

Of the total number, 5,113,842 people have unclear population numbers (NIKs) and have not accessed services at designated health facilities since 2014. Meanwhile, 114,010 other people have died.

"Simultaneously, the PBI participants who will be removed will be replaced by the same number of households currently registered in the DTKS [integrated social welfare data] in decile 1 and decile 2. Decile 1 and 2 include 40 percent of people at the lowest economic level who have not been registered as PBI participants," said the Social Affairs Minister’s special staff for law and supervision Febri Hendri in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The decision was made so that PBI participants, who receive the subsidy from the state budget, will be in line with the targeted recipients determined by the government. "This means that as much as Rp 1.5 trillion in state funds can be saved a year, so people who are in need can use it," he said.

Residents whose PBI participant status has been deactivated but still need subsidy assistance to pay the premium can report to a local social affairs office for verification and re-validation.

"If they meet the criteria as a person who is eligible to receive the assistance, they can be re-registered at the Social Affairs Ministry in the current month. This is in accordance with the existing quota and they can be registered as JKN PBI participants the following month," Febri said.

According to Bona Evita, the deputy director of BPJS Kesehatan, the number of PBI participants including newborns should remain at 96.8 million people despite the replacement of non-active members.

Related to the provision of information, BPJS Kesehatan will coordinate with stakeholders in the area. The public can also check their status with the local social affairs office and health office or contact BPJS Kesehatan’s call center at 1500400.

"If they are not registered again [as PBI participants], participants can register as independent participants or PBPU [non-salaried participants]," Bona said.

JKN-KIS participants who switch to the PBPU segment can directly activate the JKN-KIS card without waiting for the 14-day registration verification period. This provision applies to participants who register within one month after their PBI membership is deactivated, or until Aug. 31.

Informing the public

BPJS’s watch advocacy coordinator Timboel Siregar said that the deactivation of PBI membership was based on data that was routinely updated by the Social Affairs Ministry and local governments and was in accordance with existing regulations. However, the public must be informed of the deactivation so that it will not cause misunderstanding among participants.

So far, the utilization of JKN services by PBI participants, both those under the National Budget (PBI) and the Regional Budget (APBD), has been very low. "That is because the participants do not know they are registered as JKN participants and did not know how to use JKN cards," he said. (TAN)

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