In short. Under the health insurance decree, a foreigner who works in Indonesia for at least 6 months and pays contributions can be a member. When registering yourself, the BPJS Kesehatan website asks a foreigner for a passport and a work permit. A tourist or a person on a D12 visa is not entitled to this system. For foreign members who pay themselves, the Denpasar office, judging by the retold letter, asks them to confirm ITAS or ITAP, passport and RPTKA by 1 December 2026, otherwise disconnection. If you have no RPTKA, arrange a private policy before that date.
What the system is. The programme is called JKN, and BPJS Kesehatan runs it. It is insurance for life inside Indonesia: it works in a network of partner clinics and hospitals and starts with the primary care facility you are assigned to. It does not work abroad, so it does not replace a travel policy.
Who is entitled under the decree. Article 1 of decree Perpres 82/2018, with the same wording in the Perpres 59/2024 revision: a member is anyone, including a foreigner, who works in Indonesia for at least 6 months and has paid a contribution. We found no other lines about foreigners in these two decrees, so for a KITAS without work, for spouses and for children there is no separate rule in them.
How it looks by your status.
- Work KITAS, employer in Indonesia. You are an employee, and the company registers and pays. The letter is addressed to those who pay themselves, but check your status anyway.
- You pay yourself, no RPTKA: E33G, family or retirement KITAS. The letter is exactly about you. RPTKA is the approved plan for hiring a foreign worker, obtained by an employer in Indonesia, so you cannot confirm membership with this document.
- Visa B1, C1 or D12. You have no work permit in Indonesia, so under the decree you are not a member. You need a private policy, discussed in the guide to insurance.
- Your own company in Indonesia, KITAP, a foreign spouse of an Indonesian citizen. The decrees and the retold letter give no separate answer. Ask at the BPJS office and keep the answer in writing.
The 1 December letter: what is known as of 7 November. A message spread through chats that from 1 December 2026 foreigners without official employment and RPTKA lose access to BPJS. The source is a letter from the Denpasar office to foreign members, whose text a lawyer quoted in his channel. According to this text, self-paying members (category PBPU) must email the office ITAS or ITAP, passport and RPTKA, and those who do not will be disconnected from 1 December. According to the author, the office has not accepted new foreigners without RPTKA since last year. We have not seen the letter itself, and as of 7 November there is no separate announcement on the BPJS site or in the decree databases. On the other hand, on the registration page of the BPJS site, checked on 7 November, a passport and a work permit are listed for a foreigner registering by themselves, so the requirement is not new in substance. As for "1,200 dollars a year" from the retellings: the sum matches the compensation fee for a foreign worker, DKP-TKA, 100 dollars a month, paid by the employer under PP 34/2021, and it has nothing to do with BPJS contributions.
What to do now.
- Step 1. Check whether your number is active: the Mobile JKN app or the BPJS check page.
- Step 2. Look for the letter from the office at the email you gave at registration, and check spam. Take the deadline and address from the letter itself. In the retelling the address is: [email protected].
- Step 3. If you have an RPTKA: send it together with ITAS or ITAP and your passport, and keep the sent email and the reply.
- Step 4. If you have no RPTKA: arrange a private policy before 1 December, what to look for.
- Step 5. If questions remain: the BPJS line 165, BPJS WhatsApp +62 811-8165-165 (the number from the BPJS site) or the Denpasar office.
What it costs. Sums from the BPJS site as of 7 November 2026. An employee: 5% of salary, 4% paid by the employer, 1% by the employee. Those who pay themselves: Rp 150,000 a month for class I, Rp 100,000 for class II, Rp 42,000 for class III, of which the state adds Rp 7,000 and the member pays Rp 35,000. Payment is due by the 10th. When registering yourself, the first contribution is paid after 14–30 days. Decree 59/2024 introduces a single standard for hospital wards, so the classes and sums may change.
If you do not pay. Under article 42 of the decree, if the contribution is not paid by the end of the month, the insurance is suspended from the 1st of the next one. To restore it, you pay the debt, but for no more than 24 months, and the current month. The BPJS site adds: if within 45 days after restoration you are admitted to hospital, you pay another 5% of the treatment cost for the primary diagnosis for each overdue month, counted for a maximum of 12 months, with a ceiling of Rp 30 million.
How to get help. Under article 55 everything starts with the primary care facility you are assigned to: a puskesmas or a clinic. It gives a referral to a hospital, and treatment on it runs for up to 3 months. If you have left your area, at another primary facility you can get up to three visits a month. Partner facilities are easy to look up on the BPJS map.
In an emergency. Under article 63 help is given at once in any clinic or hospital, partner or not, without a referral. An emergency is what threatens life, impairs breathing or circulation, or loss of consciousness, and the treating doctor makes the final decision. After you are stabilised, you will be moved to a partner hospital. Where to go in Bali is in the guide to hospitals.
What is not covered. Under article 52, not covered are treatment at a non-partner facility except in an emergency and treatment abroad, so evacuation home stays on a private policy. Also cosmetic procedures, infertility treatment, braces, consequences of drug and alcohol dependence, contraception and alternative medicine without proven effectiveness. Separately: consequences of a "hobby dangerous to oneself" the decree does not specify whether surfing or motorsport is included, so do not count on that in advance. In a road accident the compulsory insurance programme pays first, within its limit; how this works is in the guide to scooter accidents.
Our advice. A foreigner should not now treat BPJS as the only insurance. Even if disconnection does not affect you, keep a private policy with hospitalisation and evacuation, and treat BPJS as a supplement for ordinary visits.
What this means for you. If you work in an Indonesian company: check your status and ask the employer to confirm that you are registered. If you pay yourself and have no RPTKA: arrange a private policy before 1 December and do not count on BPJS. If you received a letter from the office, keep it and check the deadline and the address in it.