Ezra Sihite & Herman Genie – President Joko Widodo officially launched the Indonesia Health Card and Indonesia Smart Card at a ceremonial unveiling in Jakarta on Monday, despite criticisms that rollout of the two flagship programs touted during Joko's presidential campaign should have been postponed due to multiple shortcomings.
"By December, we hope to have these cards distributed to nine provinces. We'll continue giving out the rest next year," Joko said at the ceremony.
Through the cards, Joko aims to improve disadvantaged Indonesians' access to education and health services. Although the health card and smart card are the most widely discussed elements of Joko's efforts to revamp delivery of entitlements, they comprise only half of a suite of cards Joko plans to distribute.
Eligibility for the entitlement cards is determined by an integrated database containing names of poor and near-poor households and individuals nationwide. That list is compiled by the vice president's Team for Accelerating Poverty Reduction (TNP2K).
Health card
The Indonesia Health Card, or KIS, comes with the promise of free health insurance for the nation's poor and near-poor.
In addition to TNP2K's poverty roster, enrollees of the former social health insurance scheme (Jamkesmas) – absorbed into the national universal health insurance scheme (JKN) that began its rollout January – are also eligible for health card benefits.
Smart card holders will be entitled to treatment at public primary care clinics (puskesmas) and treatment in third-class hospitals. Benefits provided under the health cards will be managed by the Social Security Agency (BPJS) but funded by insurance premiums of Rp 19,225 ($1.60) per person – paid by the Ministry of Health.
Joko's administration plans to initially distribute the entitlement cards to just 4.5 million people in 19 districts and cities in nine provinces within the next year, BPJS president director Fahmi Idris said on Monday.
Social Services Minister Khofifah Indar Parawana added the 4.5 million people included street children, orphans, and people living with disabilities or mental illness who were unable to register with JKN because they don't have the family certificates required under JKN.
In a press release, TNP2K said the administration plans to eventually scale the programs to 15.5 million poor households nationwide, totaling 86.4 million people. That figure does not include the latest plans to include people living with disabilities.
Sources tell the Jakarta Globe that the basis for expanding health card coverage to various groups is, as yet, undetermined or undisclosed – and that criteria of including, excluding, or prioritizing health card eligibility could include geography, economic factors, or even disability status.
The Social Services Ministry also plans to add people living with disabilities to the list of health card recipients – a commitment that sources tell the Jakarta Globe has no budget line to support it, despite adding to the number of health card holders.
Health Minister Nila Moeloek tweeted Monday night that the administration eventually plans to do away with separate cards for BPJS subscribers who are not beneficiaries of social entitlement programs.
If this plan is realized, both poor Indonesians whose national health insurance scheme premiums are paid by the government, as well as those who pay individually or through their employers, will hold the same health card. Nila gave no timeline for the planned merger, however.
She also cryptically cautioned that all Indonesians should plan to save their money toward paying insurance premiums, regardless of whether they are sick.
Nila attempted to dispel public confusion over how the new health card articulates with BPJS by explaining that the Indonesia Health Card is essentially a continuation of the national health insurance scheme of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"Only the cards are changed – and also the name – from JKN to Indonesia Health Card," Nila said after a meeting with other ministers to discuss the programs last week, according to tempo.co.
The Health Ministry's director general for health promotion, Akmal Taher, meanwhile, said recipients of the new health cards – presently a group exclusively comprising the poor and disabled – will be entitled to more free benefits than their BPJS counterparts – namely contraception, which officials such as Akmal cringingly describe as a "preventive" health service. This year's funding for health card entitlements is pegged at Rp 20 trillion.
Education card
Joko's so-called Smart Cards (KIP) come with the guarantee of 12 years of free education, and aim to provide for students' needs. The cards also guarantee free higher education for poor students who pass university entrance exams.
Education and Culture Minister Anies Baswedan similarly said the Indonesia Smart Card, or KIP, was basically an improved continuation of an existing program called the Poor Student Aid (BSM).
While Poor Student Aid only provided financial assistance to support school needs of 18 million poor students, Smart Cards will direct education funding to an additional six million students "at risk of poverty."
Those eligible for Smart Cards will include school dropouts and street children that haven't gone to school, as well as those who attend non-formal learning institutions such as some Islamic boarding schools and community learning centers.
"BSM was not aimed at calling kids who don't go to school to return to school. Smart Cards, however, will call on schools to accept back dropouts," Anies said last week.
Smart Card holders will receive Rp 225,000 per semester for elementary students, Rp 375,000 per semester for middle schoolers and Rp 500,000 per semester for senior high or vocational school students. Funds will be accessible through state-run lender Bank Mandiri or appointed outlets.
Joko also unveiled on Monday the Prosperous Family Card (KKS), which replaces the present distribution system for cash handouts of social aid with electronic transfers.
Under the Prosperous Family Card, 15.5 million poor households will receive Rp 200,000 per month. Funds will only be accessible at post offices after eligible recipients activate a card, distributed along with the KKS card, that contains a stored-value chip resembling that of mobile phone SIM.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Monday that the administration's new slate of benefits cards will make it easier to access social entitlements – and cushion the impact subsidized fuel price hikes on those hit hardest. Kalla said the fuel price hikes will go ahead as planned this month.
"We'll still wait for the cards to be distributed," Kalla added, speaking at his office in Jakarta.
[With additional reporting by Novy Lumanauw.]
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jokowi-unveils-slate-four-social-benefit-cards-confusion/