The Covid-19 pandemic has provided temporary relief to the BPJS, as the agency has reported balance sheet surpluses for four consecutive years between 2020 and 2023.

The program of health insurance Indonesia’s universal health plan is at risk of default in 2026 due to an estimated 20 trillion rupiah ($1,2 billion) deficit last year, with taxpayer outlays continuing to grow while the government is unlikely to raise insurance premiums. The program’s financial woes threaten the health services enjoyed by millions of patients in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Mahlil Ruby, Director of planning and development at Bpjs Kesehatan, the state agency that runs the insurance program, warned that the deficit is set to widen further in the next two years. “It is clear that premiums are lower than costs,” the official said in an interview with the Japanese newspaper “Nikkei” last month. “We can still provide services until 2026, but we need to control them so as not to default.”

Without government intervention, BPJS will have to rely on its own funds to cover the gap between medical treatment costs and premium revenue. The agency has its own cash reserves for now — its net assets stood at Rs51.450 trillion as of October — but these are set to run out in 2026. BPJS has yet to publish its full financial results for 2024, but from January to October, its average claims-to-premium ratio was 109,6 percent. Deficits are nothing new to the agency: from its launch in 2014 until 2019, it operated mostly in deficit and with negative net assets, which hampered claims payments to hospitals.

The pandemic of Covid-19 It gave temporary relief to the BPJS, as the agency reported budget surpluses for four consecutive years between 2020 and 2023, after the government approved the only ever premium increase for the insurance company and gave the agency a cash injection. The government also covered all costs for coronavirus patients, while hospital utilization rates fell as people avoided facilities out of fear of the virus.

Mahlil said costs will continue to rise as citizens increasingly use the service, including for costly conditions such as heart disease and stroke. Bpjs recorded 1,7 million average daily uses in 2023, up from 253.000 in 2014.

https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/...faces-default/

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Hea...es-for-default

Berita ini cuma turun di Nikkei sama Agenzia Nova.
Kantor berita lokal ga ada yg berani turunin.

Btw, kaskuser pada bisa bahasa enggres kan ya..