Klojen, (malangkota.go.id) – The Mayor of Malang, Drs. H. Sutiaji said that BPJS Kesehatan membership in Malang City has now reached 95,32 percent. This means that Malang City has achieved Universal Health Coverage (UHC). However, the level of public awareness of health still needs to be improved.
"Public awareness of health is still low, as evidenced by premium payments of only around IDR 300 billion, but claims from health facilities reaching IDR 1,3 trillion. This is a big homework for us to raise public awareness," said Sutiaji while attending the Coordination Meeting and Reporting of the Progress of the Implementation of the JKN - KIS Program with BPJS Kesehatan and related stakeholders at Malang City Hall, Wednesday (21/4/2021).
Head of the Malang City Health Office, dr. Husnul Muarif said that participants who are in arrears for several reasons can change their membership from independent to recipient of contribution assistance (PBI) funded by the Malang City Government. This is an effort to reduce the difference between income from participant contributions and claims from health facilities which are very large, where one of the causes is the existence of participant arrears.
"The existing arrears remain the responsibility of the person concerned. The cost of transferring membership from independent to PBI is the obligation of the Malang City Government. So, the Malang City Government does not pay the arrears," explained Dr. Husnul.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Malang BPJS Kesehatan Branch, Dina Diana Permata, said that communication and partnership forums with key stakeholders are routine activities carried out by BPJS Kesehatan.
"The purpose of this meeting is to establish regular communication with key stakeholders related to the implementation of the National Health Insurance (JKN) program in a region. So how is the progress of participation, the collectability of contributions, and the characteristics of health services in the region," said Dina.
Regarding several existing problems, Dina continued, cooperation with the local government is also needed in the resolution process. Based on 2020 data, the collectivity of BPJS Kesehatan contribution income in Malang City is IDR 321.565.192.478,00. In fact, this amount is not comparable to the number of claims submitted by existing health facilities, which reaches IDR 1,3 trillion.
One of the causes is the arrears by participants. Therefore, all participants must be required to pay regular monthly contributions, especially for collective participants whose contributions are paid by the local government, which is quite large.
"The case is that there will be many arrears from other membership segments, such as private wage earners, independent participants who do not routinely pay contributions. There are several efforts that we have made, including transferring their membership so that it continues to be funded by the local government," he added.
Addressing the problem of too big a gap between income and expenditure, the central government issued Presidential Regulation Number 64 of 2020, the Second Amendment to Presidential Regulation Number 82 of 2018 concerning Health Insurance. "With this increase in contributions, it is hoped that the gap between the contributions received and the service costs paid by BPJS Kesehatan will not be too large," he concluded.
This policy applies to independent participants of class one, two, and three who are in arrears for more than three months and if transferred to PBI, it will change to class three. BPJS Kesehatan will make a report to the Malang City Government regarding independent participants who are in arrears.
"This is done because the Malang City Government will verify the data and determine whether the participant can be transferred to PBI. If you want to return to being an independent participant, then the existing arrears must be paid off first," he continued. (ari/ram)
