BPJS Kesehatan Class System to Be Eliminated: How Many Participants Since Its Inception?

All healthcare class tiers of the Indonesian Social Security Agency (BPJS) Kesehatan will be eliminated by 2025. The elimination will be done gradually, starting this year.

Later, these classes will be merged into a single class using the Standard Inpatient Class (KRIS) scheme. Hospitals must provide inpatient rooms based on 12 established standards.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin explained that one of these standards is to ensure that all hospitals limit the number of beds in inpatient rooms to a maximum of four. It is known that BPJS Kesehatan class 3 rooms can have up to six beds.

"Four beds with air conditioning, each bed has a partition, and in one room containing a maximum of four beds, there is one bathroom," Budi said in a Hearing with the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), as quoted by *CNBC Indonesia*, Wednesday (8/2/2023).

However, the condition is that every BPJS Kesehatan participant is obliged to pay monthly premiums. The direction of this policy, Budi wants wealthy individuals to increase their contributions, and not utilize BPJS Kesehatan classes that are intended for the less fortunate.

Aside from the planned elimination, what is the total number of BPJS Kesehatan participants since its inception?

BPJS Kesehatan membership consists of four types: Wage Receiving Employees (PPU), Regional Government Employees (PD Pemda), Non-Wage Receiving Employees (PBPU) and Non-Workers (BP), and Recipients of Health Insurance Contribution Assistance (PBI JK).

Cumulatively, BPJS Kesehatan had 144 million participants at its inception. This increased to 157 million participants in 2015.

A significant increase occurred in 2017-2018. In 2017, the number of participants reached 188 million, jumping to 208 million in 2018. This increase is estimated to be more than 20 million participants. After that year, the number of participants exceeded 200 million.

Unfortunately, participation decreased in 2019-2020. In 2019, the number reached 224 million participants. However, in 2020, it decreased to 222 million participants.

BPJS Kesehatan President Director, Ali Ghufron, stated that the number of participants needs to be increased. Although there are no calculations for the whole of 2022 yet, participation is targeted to reach 244.9 million people.

This refers to the 2024 Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), where participation must reach 98 percent of the total population. The total Indonesian population was 275 million in June 2022.

The following are the number of BPJS Kesehatan participants year by year:

* 2014: 144,423,653 people
* 2015: 156,790,287 people
* 2016: 171,939,254 people
* 2017: 187,982,949 people
* 2018: 208,054,199 people
* 2019: 224,149,019 people
* 2020: 222,461,906 people
* 2021: 235,719,262 people

(Also read: The Planned Elimination of BPJS Kesehatan Classes, How Much Revenue Has Been Generated From Premiums So Far?)