Public and private health expenditure and life expectancy in Iran

 One of the factors affecting life expectancy is health expenditure. Considering the different effects and outcomes of private and public health expenditures on health in Iran, the aim of this study was to investigate the causality between public and private health expenditures and life expectancy in the short and long term in Iran. This descriptive-analytical study was carried out at the national level using Vector Error Correction Model for Iran. Data were obtained from annual time series for the 2000-2017, extracted from the World Bank website. The model and related tests were estimated in Eviews 10 software. The results showed that there was a two-way causality relationship between public expenditure and life expectancy in the short and long term. Also, private health expenditures had a causal relationship with life expectancy, but life expectancy had no causal impact on private health expenditures in the short and long term. The years of schooling and income had a positive impact and inflation had a negative impact on public and private health expenditures in Iran. Public health expenditures had a causal effect on life expectancy. Therefore, policies for increasing investment in infrastructure and enhancing preventive health services, improving and promoting health technology and training specialist forces that are dependent on public expenditures are essential for promoting community health. Also, due to the effect of private health expenditure on life expectancy, in order to increase life expectancy and community health, supportive and insurance policies for low-income households are necessary to compensate for some of the health costs.