In recent years, an increasing number of Indonesian people have utilized the National Health Insurance (JKN) services from BPJS Kesehatan.
In 2014, national healthcare facilities (faskes) only received 92.3 million BPJS Kesehatan patient visits.
This number continued to increase in subsequent years, except at the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, when the government limited patient visits to hospitals to prevent virus transmission.
Then in 2021, national healthcare facilities had received 233.1 million BPJS Kesehatan patient visits, with a breakdown of 152.1 million visits to Primary Healthcare Facilities (FKTP), 72.8 million outpatient visits to clinics or hospitals, and 8.2 million inpatient visits to hospitals.
When accumulated, BPJS Kesehatan patient visits to national healthcare facilities have increased by approximately 152% during the 2014-2021 period.
"The utilization of JKN services continues to increase every year. This shows that participants' awareness of health is increasing," said the Head of the Semarang BPJS Kesehatan Branch, Andi Ashar, in his press release on Sunday (5/3/2023).
Currently, BPJS Kesehatan patients can also make appointments for medical treatment via online applications, both for treatment at Primary Healthcare Facilities (FKTP) and Advanced Referral Healthcare Facilities (FKRTL).
"The online appointment system, which has been integrated into the Mobile JKN Application, can make it easier for participants to access services at FKTP and FKRTL. Participants can make appointments from home, so they can know the service time and reduce queues at healthcare facilities," said Andi.
Recently, several healthcare workers went viral on social media for making videos suggesting that healthcare facilities differentiate services for BPJS Kesehatan patients and general patients.
Responding to this, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Mohammad Syahril, affirmed that healthcare facilities will provide equal treatment to all patients.
"In reality, we guarantee that there is no difference between BPJS and non-BPJS patients," said Syahril, as reported by CNNIndonesia.com, Sunday (19/3/2023).
"Hospital management will also face sanctions from the Health Office, even from the Ministry of Health, or even from BPJS (if there is a difference in patient treatment)," he continued.