Jakarta. Health security agency BPJS Kesehatan announced Tuesday that it had disbursed around Rp 1,087.4 trillion ($61 billion) to help finance the national health insurance scheme, or JKN.

In a meeting with Indonesian lawmakers, BPJS Kesehatan's president director, Ghufron Mukti, said that the financing mainly went into treating catastrophic diseases, which require long-term and high-cost medical intervention. Such diseases accounted for around 31 percent of the total healthcare service costs.

"Heart disease holds the highest cost burden, followed by stroke, cancer, kidney failure, thalassemia, hemophilia, leukemia, and liver cirrhosis. From 2014 to 2024, the total cost for these catastrophic diseases has topped Rp 235 trillion," Ghufron was quoted as saying in a press statement.

To make sure that the large cost is managed efficiently and accountably, BPJS Kesehatan has developed a digital-based claim payment transparency system. Thanks to the information dashboard, healthcare facilities can easily monitor the claim processes, be it its submission, verification status, or payment. This dashboard also displays data on health service utilization, patient queue systems, and participant complaint channels in an integrated manner.

"We want all health facilities to have open access to information. This transparency is important because it will strengthen mutual trust and ensure continuity of service," Ghufron said.

BPJS Kesehatan has also developed the so-called healthcare service down payment (UMP) scheme.

Abdul Kadir, who chairs the agency's supervisory board, said that these funds were given to hospitals that had submitted claims but were still in the verification process. This way, the hospitals could treat the patients without any liquidity issues. Throughout last year, BPJS Kesehatan disbursed UMP worth Rp 16.97 trillion. On average, as many as 419 hospitals would receive the assistance per month.

"The UMP distribution reached Rp 11.39 trillion back in 2023," Abdul said.

According to Abdul, BPJS Kesehatan will remain committed to making sure that JKN participants can access healthcare without any issues.

"Targeted financing and a payment system that can be monitored openly are the main foundations in ensuring that the implementation of the JKN program can continue to grow and provide comprehensive protection for all Indonesians," Abdul said.

Lawmaker Edy Wuryanto called for the government to postpone the implementation of the single-tier inpatient care system under BPJS Kesehatan until the end of the year, citing the program's complexity. Edy revealed that this new system had also faced some objections, including from the Indonesian Employers Association (APINDO), as it could potentially reduce the number of beds. The same goes for labor unions, which are worried that the system might affect the benefits received by the workers who subscribed to the JKN scheme.

"[Hospital associations] ARSSI and PERSI also have doubts about this [KRIS] policy because of its potential impact on access to health services," Edy said.

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