health insurance for expats

I have it, and I'm pleased.

It is limited in some ways, and you might well have to use a hospital that isn't like a five star hotel, but I find it exceptionally useful -and excellent value for money.

My 150 per month for each of us has been what I can only describe as an unimaginable fantastic investment.

I have never used it, but the kids have, and it's been a great deal.

Naysayers will talk about long queues for rubbish doctors in dirty hospitals, but that's not been my experience.

My  local first point of contact has very well trained, English speaking, doctors, and the local hospital we use has been great. In my last town, my daughter's doctor was absolutely amazing.

Saying that, there have been times when it was just easier to pay at a private hospital. Mostly because the local place is like a 5 star hotel and it's 2 minutes down the road.

Back to the OP - I have been exceptionally pleased with BPJS.

I would say it's very good value for money and, in my experience, a far better service than the UK's national health system.

Around 3 years during covid my allianz health insurance failed when I needed it ,the  customer service was useless , luckily bpjs helped me ,ya its not 5 star but good enough .

I'm an expat living in Indonesia and used to have private medical insurance, but gave up on that as it was becoming more and more expensive. So now my family and I all use BPJS. It gets debited from my bank account each month, Rp150k per person.

I'm using it all the time as I'm pretty old. You go to your nearest BPJS clinic where they will either treat you on the spot for simple things or send you to one of the bigger hospitals. They have a list of hospitals on their computer system that you can choose from, so many of the biggest and better hospitals that you might normally go to privately are on that list. Yes, it is a bit slower for registering at each hospital on BPJS than privately, but you end up seeing the same doctor as you would if you had private medical insurance, and in most cases everything is free.

It can be slower in the for example, I needed to get X-rays done of my knees, so my doctor arranged an appointment for 2 weeks later. So instead I asked him how much it cost for the X-rays, and because it was cheap anyway, I [aid myself and got it done immediately.

If you have something very urgent or a medical emergency, you don't need to visit the local BPJS clinic to get the letter to go to a hospital, you can go directly to emergency at one of the hospitals that accept BPJS.

Yes it's worth getting BPJS. It just takes longer to register to see a doctor and treatment is sometimes not as fast as it is if you pay privately, but you'll end up seeing some of the best doctors when being sent to the larger government or semi-private hospitals where you live.

@haroldgregg i have it  i am retired  before i had AXA and payed € 240 per month  now BPJS 1st class 150. K is cheap

The 'selling high premiums in malls' lot should be avoided like the plague.

Let's talk about benefits.  BPJS is indeed cheap and all costs are covered.  However, don't compare the facilities here with health facilities in other countries.  A simple comparison is when you come to the hospital with insurance such as Axa, etc.  You will be given more priority.  Not just services, but medicine, treating doctors, etc.  To put it simply, traders often say "there are goods, there is a price".  Hopefully your expectations are not too high.  But that doesn't mean you won't be served, right now hospitals must be willing to accept BPJS patients.  In the past, in some hospitals it was quite difficult if you used BPJS.  Unless you are a civil servant.  Hospitals will be more afraid of civil servants.

I think treating doctors will not change if you use BPJS. Hospitals often use the same doctor with private of not. What changes is priority and waiting time until your next appointment and things like this. But just because you use BPJS does not necessarily mean that you will see a different doctor.

In the past when I have visited the local BPJS clinic, if I needed to see a specialist then I was given a list of hospitals that I could choose from that would fully accept BPJS. That didn't included all hospitals. So are you saying that now all private and semi-private hospitals MUST be willing to accept BPJS patients? If so, then this is quite important.

It's true, but just sharing my experience.  This actually happened to my family.  In short, my mother was treated at a Bogor regional hospital.  When using BPjS, let's say doctor A did an examination of my mother as is, not in detail.  Briefly, my mother's condition deteriorated on days 2 - 3. She was even admitted to the ICU due to being unconscious.  However, this condition did not last long, what I think was very fatal was that the doctor said that he had forgotten to do something so he prescribed the wrong medicine.  I was very disappointed, because it was very unacceptable.  And we had difficulty getting detailed information from the hospital.  Until finally we decided to change the administration section so that we no longer use BPJS, but use general payments.  And what happened?  Everything changes, even the same doctor carries out more detailed examinations, the medicine is more effective.  Information is easier to get.  That's just one example.  There are still several cases from my experience.  But again, in certain situations, for example when financial conditions are declining.  BPJS is the best choice.  But if I still have insurance from the company.  Honestly, I still prefer to use other insurance than BPJS.  Unfortunately my company's insurance doesn't cover my parents.  Yes, that's just my experience, maybe it could be different from other people.

That's right, because there are many complaints from the public regarding the poor use of BPJS.  So the government requires all hospitals to be able to accept BPJS patients.  This looks simple.  If you often go to big hospitals.  So previously there would be no or very few BPJS patients accepted.  However, now many large hospitals have built small buildings or special rooms for BPJS patients.  At that time I wasn't using BPJS, so one day I had to see an internal medicine doctor, but I came too late.  And the doctor is already in the BPJS patient area.  Because I am a public payer, I was given the privilege of being able to meet doctor without having to queue (sorry, not to be arrogant, but this is the fact).  I asked the nurse, "why is BPJS specifically in a separate building?".  The nurse answered, "As you know, we prioritize patients with general payments. This prevents protests from BPJS patients. Actually, I'm sad to hear that statement, but that's the situation. So, that doesn't mean I'm badmouthing BPJS. But I'm just sharing my experience.

The part about cash paying customers, in my experience, is true.

On the odd occasion I have done so, cash proved to be king

My wife's waiting time for a minor operation dropped from a week to, "In about an hour, sir" as soon as I said it was cold, hard, cash.

Reader might also note smaller hospitals wheel out their best doctors and equipment when they smell cash. Good care doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

The serious big, really fancy hositals are generally expensive but their customer service and medical care are stunning. I recall visiting one, Mandaya Royal Hospital Puri, that has a self playing piano in a lobby that looked like a top end hotel. If you ever visit, try the excellent coffee shop. The restaurant is top stuff as well.

It's just capitalism - live with it

Yes true about things being faster if not using BPJS. I went in to a big hospital here under BPJS with pains in my ankle. The doctor kept telling me I should use private insurance or pay cash. Anyway he scheduled an X-ray for my ankle for two weeks later. I asked him the cost of the X-ray which I believe was around IDR 250k, and asked if it could be done sooner if I paid cash. I got the X-ray done immediately by paying cash.

A few days ago, I had quite a lot of blood tests for PSA, rheumatism, cholesterol, uric acid' liver function and so on. It cost quite a bit for the tests and the lab said I could meet a GP there to discuss my results. However, I instead went to the local BPJS clinic which is walking distance from my home. The doctor that saw me was the head doctor there, she spoke excellent English and had even worked in Japan for a number of years. I got a really good and detailed breakdown of what I should and shouldn't be eating and about exercising and lifestyle. Apparently all the aches and pains I'd been feeling were due to high cholesterol, no rheumatism, no prostate issues which was excellent news. She also told me that next time if I wanted to be treated earlier I could go to the geriatrics section! Now I feel old!