The Role of Health Insurance Membership in Health Service Utilisation in Indonesia

In 2014, Indonesia implemented a new, nationwide, subsidised universal-coverage insurance program, under which poor Indonesians do not pay to become and others pay a relatively low fee. This program has created a national about the effectiveness of the ownership of health insurance in increasing use of health services—particularly among the poor—given the limitations in quantity and quality. Using membership data on different health insurance from the 2007 rounds of Susenas and Riskesdas, this article researches the of having health insurance on health service utilisation, by controlling the of quality and quantity of health services in the area. We argue that having insurance increases health service utilisation by approximately eight percentage when people feel sick (or by approximately five percentage points if include those who do not feel sick).