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Health experts on Thursday criticized the government’s proposal to expand a community-based health insurance scheme to reach universal coverage by 2013, saying the target was unrealistic.

“It’s good to have a dream, but it’s better to have a realistic dream, because 2013 is only a few years away and I don’t think we can achieve the target on time,” Ascobat Gani of the University of Indonesia said.

Ascobat, the chairman of the university’s Center for Health Economics and Policy Analysis, said the idea of expanding the Jamkesmas insurance scheme to provide free health coverage for the entire nation could trigger national dependency.

“The idea of free health treatment for everyone is not financially viable and might cause national dependency on the government,” he said, adding that the government was only responsible for taking care of the poor.

“Why waste the state’s money on the ‘haves,’ it’s pointless,” he said.

Ascobat said a significant amount of research needed to be conducted before Indonesia could achieve national coverage, including the formation of a law that would regulate the scheme.

The bill that would lead to the regulation of Jamkesmas is being discussed at the House of Representatives and is expected to be completed by October.

This year, the government earmarked Rp 4.6 trillion ($446.2 million) to cover the health insurance of 76.4 million Indonesians, while those not covered by the scheme would become the responsibility of the provincial and district administrations.

Hasbullah Thabrany, a community health expert at the University of Indonesia, said achieving total Jamkesmas coverage by 2013 was only feasible if the scheme did not cover every health procedure. “It’s not impossible to achieve this target by 2013, but it should only cover certain treatments,” he said.

Hasbullah said that the government should only cover serious health issues that required patient hospitalization.

He said that he was pessimistic that the bill on Jamkesmas would be endorsed soon because the government had been distracted by the upcoming presidential campaign.

Abdul Chalik Masulili, the Health Ministry’s director for Jamkesmas, said he was confident of reaching the target despite the critics’ opinions and the hesitation of the government.

“We [the ministry] did not start the program from zero, we have been conducting similar schemes for a while, so it will be easy for us to form the necessary policies,” he said.

Masulili said Jamkesmas had long assisted in the eradication of poverty, which meant it would be prioritized by not only the Ministry of Health but also by other interested organizations, such as aid agencies.

He denied that Jamkesmas would cause dependency on the government.

“This is only to support the people who can’t afford proper health treatment,” he said.

“Once the economy gets better, we will gradually reduce the subsidy.”