The Government Prepares Rp15 Billion for the Reactivation of BPJS PBI

Illustration. (Photo: Dok. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa stated his readiness to disburse funds of Rp. 15 billion to support the reactivation of BPJS Health membership for Fee Assistance Recipients (PBI) who had previously been deactivated.

The funds will be used to reactivate membership temporarily for three months, especially for participants with severe medical conditions.

Purbaya emphasized that this budget is already available and can be disbursed immediately once BPJS Kesehatan submits an official request.

He added that the amount of this fund is relatively small and falls under the budget item that is indeed prepared for emergency conditions.

"Later BPJS will just ask me. That's one of the starring budgets. Just come to me next week, it's already liquid, it's not too big," he told the media, Monday, February 9.

According to him, this fiscal support is important so that health services for people with catastrophic diseases are not interrupted.

He added that the government was committed to continuing to be present in the community, especially for vulnerable groups who need ongoing treatment.

Previously, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin proposed that the membership of the JKN for PBI who were deactivated could be reactivated automatically, but was temporary and this reactivation scheme was planned to last for three months while the government revalidated the participant data.

"Why do we propose this for a short time? This three months is really validated again, this can be BPS, it can be with the Regional Government and the Ministry of Social Affairs to validate whether this is poor or not," he said.

Budi said that out of the approximately 11 million BPJS PBI participants who were revoked from their membership, there were approximately 120,000 people with a history of catastrophic diseases and of that number, approximately 12,000 are hemodialysis patients who are very dependent on routine services.

He added that nationally the number of patients undergoing dialysis reached 200,000 people and increased by around 60,000 new patients every year, and without regular treatment two to three times per week, the patient's condition is at risk of worsening and even threatening life.

In addition to kidney failure, Budi also emphasized the importance of continuity of treatment for other catastrophic diseases, such as chemotherapy for cancer patients, heart disease treatment, as well as regular blood transfusions and infusions for thalassemic children.

Therefore, he added, the temporary reactivation of PBI-JKN membership is considered very important.

For financing, Budi explained that the need for funds was relatively limited if focused on participants with severe diseases, with a PBI contribution of around Rp. 42,000 per person per month, the total needs for three months were still affordable.

"If you ask how much the cost is, Mr. and Mrs., it was 120,000 people. If 42,000 PBI per month is at least Rp5 billion, so we ask that Rp15 billion can be spent to automatically reactivate," he explained.

He suggested that this temporary reactivation plan would be spelled out in a Decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs, while the central and regional governments would work together with the Central Statistics Agency to update data so that the contribution assistance was targeted.