Catastrophic expenditures for hospitalized patients in Tabriz, Iran

Objective (s): The catastrophic medical payment is one of the most important concerns in low income and developing countries. Iran is one of the countries that out-of-pocket payment is a major method for health care، which may result in catastrophic expenditure. This study aims to identify factors that influence catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) by patients in of Tabriz، Iran in year in 2011-2012. 300 patients were selected from patients hospitalized in general hospitals. The information was collected by a questionnaire and the Stata software and Heckman model. The results indicated that the proportion of households with CHE was 30%. The results of Heckman selection model indicated that factors such as age (elderly people)، and gender (female patients) were associated with higher CHE. The results of the orderd-probit selection model demonstrated that elderly person، children، person with chronic diseases، admission to a private hospital and lower household wealth were major factors contributing to the increased probability of the CHE. The findings demonstrated that the use of expensive hospitalized care and lower economic status increased the households’ exposure to catastrophic expenditures.