Jakarta. The health insurance agency BPJS Kesehatan recently hosted a visit from its Japanese counterpart Kyukai Kenpo. 

Representatives from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were also present. The visit showed Japan’s interest in learning more about Indonesia’s health insurance management. According to BPJS Kesehatan’s compliance and interinstitutional director Mundiharno, the agency looks forward to sharing its experiences in running the National Health Insurance (JKN) scheme program. 

"Indonesia should be proud because it is one of the fastest countries to achieve universal health coverage [UHC]. We only need ten years, while other countries on average need decades to guarantee the health of their people. Japan spent 36 years registering all its citizens for social security. Even Germany, the oldest country to implement a social health insurance mechanism, took 127 years," Mundiharno said. 

Getting the entire population to be part of the health insurance scheme is not easy due to Indonesia’s population size, according to Mundiharno. But in the ten years of BPJS Kesehatan's operations, over 98 percent of Indonesia's population is now protected by the JKN program The rapid growth in JKN membership has attracted interest from many countries, including Japan. 

"Some time ago, BPJS Kesehatan also had the opportunity to give a public lecture at Kansai University, Osaka, Japan, regarding the implementation of the JKN Program. Of course, we are very happy to be able to meet Japan again today. There are many insights, opinions, and inputs, including plans for initiatives to build collaboration and cooperation in the future," he said. 

As of the first half of 2024, BPJS Kesehatan has partnered with 23,287 primary health facilities and 3,124 advanced referral health facilities to make it easier for the participants to access healthcare. BPJS Kesehatan also works alongside private hospitals. 

"In order for JKN participants to obtain quality services, BPJS Kesehatan only collaborates with healthcare facilities that have passed the credentialing and re-credentialing selection. To provide basic health services to remote areas, we have worked with several floating hospitals. In the future, inter-regional services will be a major step in serving remote areas that previously faced difficulties in accessing hospital care," said Mundiharno.

BPJS Kesehatan also inked a memorandum of understanding with Kyoukai Kenpo Japan. The agreement includes collaborative steps in terms of risk management, UHC optimization, strategic purchasing and strengthening promotive-preventive steps. The deal also includes cooperation on health insurance system management, including efforts to collect contributions.