News
Insurer ¿must¿ cover informal sector
The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA: An expert says that the government’s proposed social insurance providers must include informal workers who are uncovered by existing programs.
The government’s draft social insurance bill proposed the establishment of two new bodies to manage five types of social insurance. One body would cover health, occupational injury, and death benefits. The other would cover long-term benefits, such as pensions and old-age risk.
According to health law specialist Amir Hamzah Pane, the government’s plan was poorly focused.
“We need a social insurer that is member oriented, covering both formal and informal workers. The new social insurer must be member oriented,” he said at a forum held by Health and Development Study Agency (LKKP) on Wednesday.
Amir cited data from the Health Ministry from 2010 that stated that only 56 percent of citizens are covered by state-owned or commercial health insurers and 44 percent of Indonesians, most of whom worked in the informal sector, had no health insurance.
He also cited a World Social Security Report released by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2011 that stated that Indonesia spent less than two percent of its GDP on social insurance expenditures. — JP