Research from Faculty of Medicine Yields New Findings on Public Health (Does National Health Protection Cover the Vulnerable Groups in Indonesia? A Case Study of Waste Pickers in Surabaya): Health and Medicine – Public Health

2023 OCT 05 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on public health. According to news reporting originating from the Faculty of Medicine by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The National Health Protection (NHP) of Indonesia is a pro-poor social health insurance as the government pays the monthly premium for the poor.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Faculty of Medicine: “A waste picker is classified as an urban poor group needing affordable or free access to health care. This study explores the extent to which the NHP protects the health of waste pickers and provides them with quality health care. For this mixed-method study, 342 waste pickers completed the survey, 40 engaged in interviews, and 15 participated in Natural Group Discussions. The study found that 20% of waste pickers were not enrolled in NHP due to issues such as incorrect validation of poverty, discrimination, illegal fees, nepotism, unaffordable premiums, and lack of interest in purchasing the health plan. Among those who were enrolled, waste pickers expressed satisfaction with the health care they received and the behavior of the staff.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “However, they did criticize certain aspects such as waiting times, service gaps between full-paying and subsidized patients, suspicion of the quality of medicines, complicated medical administration procedures, and inflexibility of the capitation system. The study concludes that despite the NHP, poor groups remain vulnerable to accessing free health care.”

For more information on this research see: Does National Health Protection Cover the Vulnerable Groups in Indonesia? A Case Study of Waste Pickers in Surabaya. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 2023. The publisher for Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health is SAGE Publications.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/10105395231199559.

Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting Charles Livingstone, Gambling and Social Determinants Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (SPHPM), Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australi. Additional authors for this research include Yohanes Kambaru Windi, Andrea Whittaker.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the author of this research: Yohanes Kambaru Windi (http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8328-2960).

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