Government Provides Subsidy
Prof. Ali also highlights the sad fact that BPJS’ burden has become heavier because people find it hard to pay fees for their own healthcare, while they spend so much on items that endanger their own health, like alcohol and cigarettes. “When buying cigarettes, they will spend no less than IDR 150,000.00 a month. Yet they complain bitterly about having to pay BPJS Kesehatan fees at IDR 42,000.00 a month, while it’s not even a third of their cigarette expenditures,” he griped.
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The Class 3 monthly fees should have been IDR 42,000.00 a month, but the Government provides a subsidy of IDR 7,000.00 – one sixth – to allow beneficiaries to pay not more than IDR 35,000.00 per person per month. That’s not even half of the fees for Class 1 and Class 2 at respectively IDR 150,000.00 and IDR 100,000.00 per person per month.
This is a mixed bag of affairs. At least the Ministry of Health informs us that catastrophic illness is mostly preventable, by adhering to a healthy lifestyle from early on: consuming nutritious and balanced meals every day, routine light exercise, sufficient rest, proper stress management and abstention from smoking. (est)