How Insurance Can Improve Quality of Life

"If you are healthy, you will be productive...."

That's the easiest phrase to depict how being healthy contributes to our life. Based on information shared by Ministry of Health website in 2016, The Copenhagen Consensus (2012) showed that investment of $1 in nutrition can give $30 increase in value of health improvement, education, and economy activity. How so? To measure human development and classified developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries, government uses Human Development Index (HDI), which compose of life expectancy, education, and per capita income. HDI is used by government to plan expenses and disbursements, such as infrastructure and system development.

What is the relation of insurance to HDI? When government plan to improve health in rural areas, there are two things that need to develop, one would be the physical infrastructure (hospital, road to hospital, ambulance, etc), the second is the unseen system that connect the patients to the doctors (what urges patients to see doctors). BPJS insurance, Kartu Indonesia Sehat, and other insurance products are part the unseen system, of course you have the insurance card but the system of payment is all  behind your back, so makes it unseen by insurance holders but we can feel the benefit.

There are cases of hydrocephalus in babies happen to low income family. One of causative factors is infection during pregnancy. Abnormalities during pregnancy can be known through routine checkup using USG but for low income family it might not be accessible because of the location of hospital/doctors is (are) too far, medical devices are not available in their area and lack of money. The existence of insurance helps to solve the third hurdle that allows patients have confidence to see doctor and get treated. If the abnormalities of baby at birth can be reduced it can contribute to life expectancy thus increase HDI.

While insurance can help low income family to access health services, the existence of insurance shouldn't be just method of payment. Insurance products should also incentivize holders to get healthy. Because no matter how big the benefit is, there is no guarantee that after all treatments we can be healed.