If you are an expat living in Indonesia, you will not be eligible for national health insurance. Therefore, you will need to consider your options. You could seek private treatment, for which you would need to pay out of pocket or through your private health insurance. Alternatively, you could use the public sector, but you would need to pay for this up front, except in an emergency. Many expats do not recommend seeking healthcare in Indonesia, beyond emergencies or routine check ups, and many travel to neighbouring Singapore for treatment instead.If you are planning to access treatment in the region, rather than in Indonesia itself, then make sure that your health insurance has a clause for medical evacuation.
The Indonesian government is currently attempting to improve the national healthcare system, extending universal coverage to all the country’s citizens. However, it is also keen to develop the medical tourism market, which is a lucrative part of many Southeast Asian economies. The private sector is not yet as developed as those in some of Indonesia’s neighbouring countries, but there are some major regional competitors, such as India’s Apollo hospital chain, moving into the country.
Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are the region’s leading medical tourism markets. Low cost airlines make it easier to travel between countries, and there have been some high profile cases of prominent Indonesians travelling abroad for health reasons. Over half of Malaysia’s medical tourists come from Indonesia. The Indonesian government launched a health tourism booklet in 2019, alongside private provider Siloam, to showcase current services and providers.
In the Indonesian facilities that offer medical procedures to health tourists, the most popular procedures are:
• Dental treatment
• Rhinoplasty
• Breast augmentation
Alternative medicine tends to be more expensive than Western medicine, due to a current lack of qualified practitioners, although you should find plenty of choice in areas such as Bali.
Dental costs in Indonesia are not the cheapest globally, but can be significantly lower than in some Western nations.
• Dental implant: US$890 – US$1780
• Root canal: US$193
• Filling: US$40 – US$65 (depending on number of fillings)
• Deep cleaning: US$113
• Extraction: US$283 – US$354
• Whitening: US$283
• Crowns: US$330 – US$1187 (depending on the crown)
• Veneers: US$422+
• Consultation: US$10
Cataract surgery is currently in the region of $500 per eye. LASIK is performed at Indonesia’s biggest ophthalmology facility in Jakarta, and will cost around US$1K per eye.
Some average costs for other cosmetic procedures are as follows:
• Breast augmentation: US$3700
• Nose reduction: US$3500
• Septoplasty: US$4300
• Tip plasty: US$3500
Some private sector hospitals also offer other medical procedures, such as:
• Knee replacement: US$9000
• Dialysis: US$225
• Hip replacement: US$9000
If you intend to access complementary medicine, then a traditional massage in Bali, for example, will cost in the region of US$7 – US$710, although treatments in resorts such as Seminyak can cost around US$30.