Government Assessed As Empathy Deaf Because Of Increasing BPJS Health Contribution

President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. (Photo: Setkab)

JAKARTA - The government has officially increased the BPJS Kesehatan class I and II dues. This decision received attention from various parties, including Commission IX of the DPR. The government is considered to be lacking in empathy with the people's difficult conditions due to the corona virus pandemic or COVID-19. Therefore, the legal basis for this increase in contributions is asked to be revoked.

Deputy Chairman of Commission IX of the DPR Ansory Siregar asked the Presidential Regulation (Perpres) 64 of 2020 concerning the revision of the amendments to the Presidential Decree 82 of 2018 concerning Health Insurance, which contained the BPJS health contributions to be revoked.

"I am Ansory Siregar, Deputy chairman of the House of Representatives commission IX from the PKS faction, asking to revoke Presidential Decree number 64 of 2020 concerning the increase in BPJS Health contributions," he said, in Jakarta, Thursday, May 14.

According to Ansory, the government should empathize with the difficult conditions faced by the Indonesian people due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, because of this epidemic, many had to be laid off, and even lost their livelihoods because of the large-scale social restriction (PSBB) policy.

"The government is insensitive and has proven to have no empathy with the situation of the people who are being hit by the pandemic of the COVID-19 epidemic, where people are in distress and suffering. However, it has actually increased BPJS Health contributions," he said.

Lawless

Not only that, according to Ansory, with the increase in BPJS Kesehatan class I and II contributions, the government has proven to be ignorant of the Supreme Court (MA) decision and has not provided an example of law obedience to the people.

"The government also does not provide good examples or role models in compliance with the law, even though the Supreme Court's decision is valid and binding so that the BPJS Contribution is returned to the way it was before," he said.

According to Ansory, the increase in BPJS Kesehatan class I and II contributions did not go through a working meeting with Commission IX as BPJS Health's partner.

"Ironically, the policy for the increase was delivered when the DPR was in recess so that it could not hold a working meeting with the government," he said.

Going back and forth, the amount of BPJS Kesehatan premiums is also a concern of the Lokataru Foundation and the Indonesian Dialysis Patient Community (KPCDI). They criticized the government's move to increase the contribution rate again.

Chairperson of the Indonesian Dialysis Patient Community (KPCDI), Tony Samosir, said that the government was proven to have ignored the Supreme Court's decision which canceled Presidential Decree Number 75 of 2019 concerning Amendments to Presidential Decree Number 82 of 2018 concerning Health Insurance, as of 6 May.

Tony feels it is strange with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) 's decision to issue Presidential Decree Number 64 of 2020 concerning the Second Amendment to Presidential Decree Number 82 of 2018 concerning Health Insurance. This policy will take effect gradually starting on July 1, 2020. This is because the Supreme Court's decision is legally binding for all, including the president.

"We think that the government seems to be playing tricks on the residents who have totally rejected the increase in BPJS Health premiums from the start," said Tony, through a written statement received by VOI, Wednesday, May 13.

Since the discourse on the increase in premiums was rolled out until the enactment of Presidential Decree 75 of 2019 in January, said Tony, a wave of disapproval from the citizens had been expressed through the actions of 792,854 people who chose to leave class.

Furthermore, Tony said, the Government should stick to the guiding principles of the right to health, one of which is the principle of financial accessibility which ensures that health services must be affordable for all citizens.

"The protests against the class clearly reported that the residents had difficulty reaching the new contribution rate financially. Unfortunately, the government did not have the sensitivity and ability to read the wave of protests and still chose to increase the fees," he explained.

For KPCDI, as the party that previously sued the Presidential Decree 75 of 2019 to the Supreme Court, the news that the Government has re-increased the amount of fees, especially class III PBPU / BP, is very disappointing. This is because, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a wave of layoffs is also happening.

"This threatens the safety of chronic disease patients such as kidney failure sufferers who must continue to access health services (hemodialysis / dialysis) for the sake of survival. By raising it again, it means that the cancellation of the increase in contributions will only last for three months; April, May, June," he said.

Open the BPKP Audit Results

Meanwhile, Lokataru researcher Fian Alaydrus assessed that the government does not have a strong commitment to respect, protect and fulfill the rights to health insurance for citizens.

According to Fian, from the start, the Lokataru Foundation assessed that the policy of increasing fees to cover the BPJS Health deficit could not ensure that in the future BPJS Kesehatan would not experience a deficit again.

"We cannot close our eyes to the messy governance of BPJS Kesehatan. The chaos of membership data, the absence of firm action against thousands of business entities that do not pay and guarantee their workforce to the lack of supervision and the imposition of sanctions for acts of fraud committed by unscrupulous patients, health service providers and also BPJS Kesehatan itself, "he said.

Moreover, said Fian, until today, BPJS Kesehatan has not publicly disclosed the results of the BPKP audit of BPJS Kesehatan. In fact, last March the Central Information Commission (KIP) decided that the audit document was a public document.

"As long as the document is still covered up, we cannot accept the official government's explanation that blames the deficit on the BPJS participants. Likewise, until the cause of the deficit cannot be explained satisfactorily by the government, we will continue to reject the increase in BPJS Health contributions," he said.

Fian said the Lokataru Foundation and KPCDI demanded President Jokowi to be firm in his commitment to respect, protection and fulfillment of the rights to health insurance for citizens, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Regarding the new rules issued by the president, there is no other way. We will take legal action," he explained.

For your information, through this latest Presidential Regulation policy, the amount of BPJS Health contributions is indeed lower than the Presidential Regulation canceled by the Supreme Court. Article 34 Paragraph 1 of Presidential Decree Number 64 Year 2020 states, in 2020, the tuition fee for class III participants will increase to IDR 42,000. However, the government provides a subsidy of Rp. 16,500, so the community only needs Rp. 25,500.

However, this policy only applies in 2020, while in 2021 the amount will increase to IDR 35,000 with IDR 7,000 being paid by the government.

For class II PBPU and BP / independent class, the contribution is Rp. 100,000, Rp. 10,000 lower than the Presidential Regulation that was canceled by the previous Supreme Court. Meanwhile, for class I, the amount of the premium is IDR 150,000, again a difference of IDR 10,000 from the previous Presidential Decree.