Notes

Universal Healthcare Comes to Indonesia, Cover-Ups Not an Issue

In Indonesia, the government has presented a new universal healthcare scheme called Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN). The scheme includes health insurance will be comprehensive to the whole population by 2019.

About 35% of Indonesia's 240 million people are categorized as poor and approximately USD 1.6 billion has been allotted to cover premiums for the poor, however an additional 30% of people are covered by certain form of regional or national health programme which automatically enables them to care.

Speaking to the news agency IRIN, one surgeon working at a hospital in the capital, Jakarta, hailed the new scheme as a “great programme” since “people will no longer be denied treatment because they don’t have money”.

That led to some hocus-pocus of some scam insurance.

Axis Capital, a global insurer and reinsurer, providing clients and distribution partners with a broad range of specialized risk transfer products and services, a group of companies with branch offices in Bermuda, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Singapore and the United States is at one with the universal healthcare for Indonesia.

Healthcare overheads nonetheless, the World Bank has warning that in order to cover all individuals in poverty or near poverty, the national insurance scheme will sooner or later necessitate the country to twofold its spending on health. Indonesian health workers are certainly alarmed that the new scheme could have an influence on the quality of provision.

Up to now, reports puts forward some hospitals have obtained limited information concerning the details of the new scheme. There are also worries regarding whether the present healthcare system will be able to meet demand. More than 1,700 state and private hospitals are contributing in JKN, with a further 9,000 state-funded community clinics serving as the initial point of primary care. Contrariwise, new hospitals will be necessary and the government plans to build 150 by 2019. The Health Ministry also quotes that the country will demand an additional 12,000 doctors.

Other pressures on the system as a lot of other developing nations, other strains are also being placed on Indonesia’s healthcare system by a rise in obesity and non-communicable diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Deaths from non-communicable diseases have risen sharply (by 42% between 1995 and 2007) and in 2013, the prevalence of diabetes had risen to 2.1% compared with 1.1% six years ago. The number of Indonesians with diabetes is forecast to grow significantly, by around 6% each year.