President Director Of BPJS Health: Pay Cigarettes IDR 150 Thousand A Month Able, Pay BPJS IDR 42 Thousand Heavy

ILLUSTRATION BETWEEN

JAKARTA - President Director of BPJS Kesehatan Ghufron Mukti said that millions of Indonesians who are in arrears in the dues of the National Health Insurance (JKN) are problems that must be addressed immediately.

"In my opinion, he should be able to. However, there are two factors, namely WILLingness to pay (the availability to pay) funds to pay (the ability to pay)," said Ghufron Mukti as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 18.

He said that cigarette consumers are one example of a community group that is able to pay for JKN iur.

According to Ghufron, the average expenditure for public cigarette consumption in Indonesia currently ranges from Rp. 150,000 per person per month. This nominal is much higher than the JKN iur for grade 3 which is valued at Rp. 42 thousand per person per month.

"Diaability to pay, because paying cigarettes alone can be Rp. 150,000 a month, this is paying BPJS Rp. 42 thousand to feel heavy," he said.

Although reluctant to mention the specific number of JKN arrears that reached millions of people, Ghufron said that number also included 7 percent of the population who had not registered as participants.

According to him, Law Number 40 of 2004 concerning the National Social Security System and Law Number 24 of 2011 concerning BPJS mandates that every Indonesian citizen must follow the JKN program.

"Sekarang sudah 93 persen yang berstatus peserta, berarti sekitar 7 persen belum jadi peserta. Yang tidak aktif puluhan juta jutanya," kata dia.

According to Ghufron, people often realize the importance of health insurance when they are sick, so public awareness of health still needs to be increased.

"Often if you don't need it, don't pay, so you don't. In fact, you should continue to pay," he said.

Responding to this, BPJS Kesehatan reminded the public that there are sanctions provisions for the in Arrears of BPJS Kesehatan as stated in Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 64 of 2020 concerning Health Insurance.

This provision, said Ghufron, applies to arrears of maximum dues for two years. One of the sanctions received is in the form of deactivating JKN services.

"There is an umbrella before it rains. Don't just take advantage of it, but also have to work together," he said.

Despite the arrears, Ghufron ensured that the level of compliance with JKN's contributions was still relatively good, because 90 percent of the more than about 258 million participants, were actively working together to pay dues.

"The compliance with the collection of contributions has never happened as good as it is today, because now it is more than 90 percent, even up to 99 percent have paid dues," he said.