Equity in Health Financing with an Emphasis on Catastrophic Health Expenditure

Equity in health financing is an important health policy objective worldwide. A health system is fair in the case that its financing is in proportion to the household’s ability to pay. The households are facing Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) when their health expenditure exceeds their ability to pay. The Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MHME) (Iran) has launched reforms in the health sector evolution plan (HSEP) to improve the conditions in Iran’s health system. One of the main objectives of this plan was financial protection of people. In order to achieve its goals, the program tried to expand the population coverage through pre-payment mechanisms, protect the poor and disadvantaged people, design a benefits package, and decide the level of cost sharing by the patients.