This paper assesses Singapore's aging policies with the aim of examining how these can be reformed to achieve greater social resilience. The article uses a framework developed by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and FP Analytics in their 2017 report "The Aging Readiness & Competitiveness Report 2017"3 to assess Singapore's aging policies. The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 discusses the changing context in which Singapore's aging policies to enhance social resilience must be designed and implemented.
A Framework for Assessing Ageing Policies
Singapore's unadjusted Gini coefficient for labor income alone is about 0.47 (this coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, with a higher value implying greater inequality) and 0.46 after transfers and taxes.6. Official estimates of Singapore's Gini coefficient include only wage income and exclude capital income, which globally is much more unequally distributed than labor income. In Singapore, labor income is about 45 percent and capital income about 55 percent of national income, underscoring the importance of including capital income in measuring the Gini coefficient (Asher and Kwan, 2014).
An Assessment of Singapore’s Ageing Policies
It also looks at technology-driven products and services for the seniors market and data mining and analytics to help develop health care, wellness and other products that could help seniors. Since about three-fifths of caregivers are elderly women, their economic security is at risk. As the number of elderly people increases rapidly, this approach is likely to become increasingly ineffective and inequitable.
Concluding Remarks
The plan focuses on employability, lifelong learning, senior volunteering, health and wellbeing, social engagement and inclusion, aged care to help older people in the home, housing, transport, public spaces and research into aging to understand the needs of older people and encourage innovation. The plan's specific initiatives include raising the voluntary reemployment age from 65 to 67; creation of a National Silver Academy for older people to pursue learning; co-location of aged care and childcare facilities in residential areas; and expanding the number of beds in the local community and capacity in nursing homes. The budget also provides financial incentives to live with or near elderly parents or siblings in order to facilitate elderly care in their homes.
The recent initiatives, while welcome, do not diminish the need to undertake reforms of the traditional social protection system proposed in this article, in particular to address inherent gender inequalities and the absence of a budget-financed social pension. An important aspect of the required change in management model is to address the tendency of policy makers to view even basic socio-economic data related to social protection as a strategic resource, a position used to limit dialogue and to channel research in certain directions. If biological age and the aging process are related, some understanding of this relationship may facilitate better aging policies.
With increasing longevity, a 50-year-old who currently has a much longer life expectancy than a person of the same age in 1990 may make different decisions about saving, investing, participating in the workplace, and other important economic and personal matters. American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and FP Analytics, 2017, “The Aging Readiness & Competitiveness Report 2017”, Available at: aarpinternational.org/arc Asher, M.G. 2014), “Singapore's Pension System: Challenges and Reform. Nabilah Husna (2018), "Singapore Budget 2018: Does Singapore care about carers?". https://www.theonlinecitizen.com singapore-budget- 2018-does-singapore-care-about-its-caregivers/. 2018), "PM.
Ng, K. http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/many-working-out-of-need-not-out-of-choice Ng, K. 2015), “Mabalin kadi a ti sentral a pondo ti provident ti Singapore ket makatungpal pay laeng iti pension sueldo.
Transformation of Social Security System in Indonesia: Aiming for Coverage for All
Introduction
After the crisis, the economy began to lay the groundwork for the expansion of social security coverage for all Indonesians. A series of laws were promulgated, and road maps for a newly integrated social insurance system were created. BPJS Kesehatan (BPJS Health) was tasked with administering universal health coverage not only for civil servants, the armed forces, police officers and formal employees in the private sector, but also the poor and near-poor financed by general taxation, and with extending coverage to informal workers.
In 2015, BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (BPJS Employment) became the sole body administering four social security schemes consisting of workplace accident benefits, death benefits, pensions and old-age savings. Such reforms had the ambitious target of achieving universal health coverage by 2019, while the employment social security schemes are expected to cover all formal-sector employees by 2019, with a modest target of increasing enrollment by informal workers. While the economy has formed a framework to extend coverage to informal workers, implementation appears to be challenging, especially with the high degree of informality, where informal workers make up around 60-70% of Indonesia's workforce.
How is Indonesia's social security system developing in terms of providing coverage to the informal sector. What are the challenges facing Indonesia and the shortcomings of the current system. What can be done to improve the current system to strengthen social protection for informal workers.
Social Security System in Indonesia: Past and Present
- Overview of past social security system .1. Social health insurance schemes
- Workplace accident benefits, death benefits, pension and old-age savings schemes The schemes were offered by three providers: Jamsostek for formal private-sector
- Overview of current social security system .1 Social health insurance scheme
- Workplace accident benefits, death benefits, pension and old-age savings schemes During the SJSN implementation period, all employment programs are administered
3/1992 on the Social Security Act, PT Jamsostek was charged with managing personal injury, death, retirement and health benefits for formal private sector employees. The provision of social security for police, armed forces and civil servants was subsequently standardized by Presidential Decree (Kepres) No. A key premise of the bill was that social security systems should cover all people in Indonesia, regardless of their background; rich or poor, workers in the formal or informal sector.
Five national social security programs will be created – a health program and four employment programs (workplace accident, old age savings, pension and death benefits). Their responsibilities include management of trust funds, enrollment, collection of contributions, provision of benefits to members, and issuance of social security identification numbers. In early 2014, BPJS Health would begin administering a unified health insurance program for three categories of people: (i) poor and near-poor whose fixed contributions would be paid by the government; (ii) those employed in both the public and private formal sectors whose salary-based contributions will be paid by employers and employees; and (iii) those who are non-poor and work in the informal sector, who will pay their own contributions upon enrollment.
The following sections, 2.1 and 2.2, explain in more detail comprehensive social security programs in Indonesia before and after the implementation of SJSN. Before BPJS Health was established and tasked with implementing the National Health Insurance Program (JKN) in 2014, the social health insurance systems in Indonesia were fragmented, mostly by types of occupation. For the non-poor, the administrators of the social health insurance schemes were state-owned profit-making joint-stock companies.
There were no specific social health insurance schemes aimed at workers in the informal sector or the self-employed. As of May 2014, only 5.9 million of the 31.87 million people participating in the Jamkesda scheme were listed as participants targeted by the Ministry of Health's Center for Health Insurance Payments for enrollment in the subsequent BPJS health scheme. According to Bappenas (2014), central government financing to cover health insurance for 86.4 million poor and near-poor in 2014 was expected to be Rp.
Extending the Social Security System to Informal Workers 1 Defining and identifying the informal sector
- Efforts to provide coverage for informal workers
- Initiatives before SJSN implementation
- Initiatives after SJSN implementation in 2014
The remainder of informal workers were included as family or unpaid workers, about 25% in 2015, or about 16.9 million people. Bappenas (2014) reported that in 2014, approximately 32.5 million informal workers would not be covered by any health insurance (excluding family members). Bappenas conducted a study on the informal economy in 2011-2012 to explore the possibility of extending social security to informal workers.
A similar situation was also identified in ILO (2010), where only 60% of the informal workers surveyed knew about the Jamsostek programme. According to the guidelines as summarized by Sirojudin (2013), each CBO was expected to enroll approximately 200 to 300 informal workers within a period of three years. Unlike formal workers, informal workers' income is not stable or regular, as in the case of farmers who have to wait until harvest season to earn their income.
However, these two options for supporting informal workers' taxes can create incentives for informalization where it is more costly. Other issues concern equity and fairness, such as in the case of high-earning informal workers who ultimately receive government subsidies. 19/2016 and information available on the BPJS Health website13 do not delineate different strategies to target informal workers.
According to this projection, at least 6% of informal workers in 2019 will be registered as members of BPJS employment programs. Unfortunately, there is no further breakdown revealing the extent of coverage among informal workers. Overall, the government has acted on the SJSN Act to provide mechanisms to expand social security coverage for informal workers.
Conclusion and Policy Implications
It remains to be seen whether there will be creative initiatives along the way to ensure greater participation by informal workers. In addition, the government must ensure the financial sustainability of social security programs and continuously address the existing chronic lack of health care infrastructure, while also aiming to provide quality health care services. The success of Indonesia's recent social security reform depends on the government's ability to address the challenges facing the current system.
Taking the final step to extend protection to informal workers remains the most challenging part of the road to universal coverage, as other economies have experienced. Indonesia can benefit from the experience of other economies in managing their social security programs and learn from their innovative approaches to identify what works and what does not. Expanding Social Security Coverage for the Informal Economy in Indonesia: Research in the Urban and Rural Informal Economy.
Coordinating Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas), Ministry of Labor and Transmigration, and National Social Insurance Council (DJSN). Social security for workers in the informal economy in Indonesia: seeking flexible and highly targeted programs. Expanding Social Health Insurance to the Informal Sector in Kenya: An Assessment of Factors Affecting Demand.” International Journal of Health Planning and Management 23: 51-68.
Microinsurance and Social Protection for Informal Sector Workers in Indonesia: A Study on the Social Security Program (SWIP/Askesos).” Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley.
