DPR Welcomes The Proposal For Cigarette Tax And Excise For Handling Cancer

One of the factories in Kudus produces hand-rolled kretek cigarettes (SKT). (Antara/Yusuf N)

JAKARTA - Member of the House of Representatives Commission IX, Putih Sari, said he would oversee the proposed tax and excise tax on cigarettes used for health financing. Mainly cancer treatment.

The suggestion for the use of part of the cigarette tax and excise tax for health financing was conveyed by the Head of the Center for Health Insurance Financing and Management Policy (KPMAK) UGM Diah Ayu Puspandari, in a dialogue held by the Indonesian Health Economic Association (IEKI) on Saturday, March 5.

"Regarding the financing scheme from cigarette excise, I think it will also be an input. Later during the discussion meeting, I also happen to be at the DPR's Budget Agency, along with friends, who will oversee Dr. Diah's proposal so that we can prioritize health financing, especially for cancer," said White. told reporters, Saturday, March 5, reported by Antara.

The government has actually begun to allocate part of the cigarette tax and tobacco excise received by the regional government to the health sector in 2020. However, in December 2020, the allocation of funds for the health sector fell from 50 percent to 25 percent.

Knowing this, it is proposed that the Central Government can reallocate funds for the health sector to 50 percent or provide flexibility in the use of cigarette tax and tobacco excise funds for health sector development at the regional level.

On the other hand, Putih sees the need for the government to review the original goal of the National Health Insurance Program (JKN), which is to achieve public health coverage.

This, he said, is not only about the coverage of the number of participants, but also the scope of services that can guarantee access to promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services, quality and effective without incurring individual costs.

He also encouraged the Ministry of Health and all related parties to implement health financing innovations so that the expansion of access to innovative treatments specifically for cancer does not run into problems of limited funds.

According to him, one of the financing innovations that can be explored in the near future is to open a wider collaboration space with various parties, including drug manufacturers and private insurance.

"For example, by providing several price schemes in the JKN program as previously applied to cancer drugs through a risk sharing system or other innovative mechanisms," he said.