The Effect of Health Transformation Plan on Supplementary Health Insurance in Iran

Implementation of the Health Transformation plan (HTP) has had many effects so far. The analysis of these impacts can help policymakers and planners to continuously improve the health system's ultimate goals. Considering that, health financing is one of the most impressive of health system functions from the HTP, the present study examines the effect of the HTP on supplementary health insurance as part of financial providers in the health system in Iran.

This is a descriptive study carried out using secondary data in 2017. Data were gathered using information systems of health insurance organizations and the statistical yearbook of central insurance of the country. Data analysis was performed using Excel and SPSS software. To analyze and report these data, descriptive statistics and analytical tests were used.

The effect of the HTP on the share of health care providers has shown that in private financing, the share of households is the highest, and during the period 2002-2004, the average share of households from the total private sector share was 86.5%. During the period of 2002-2003, the share of the domestic government as the public sector was 54% on average. Findings in relation to supplementary health show that the net loss has been ascending and premium rate has been increasing.

The share of households in health expenditures has decreased since the implementation of the HTP, but the average pocket spending in the public and private sector has not decreased by more than 10%. The goal of creating competition and improving the quality of the public sector with the private sector and increasing the incentive for people to go to the public sector has largely been met by changing the frequency of contributions made by the financiers. In the long run, with the continuation of the implementation of the health system reform plan and the elimination of the way in which supplementary health insurers benefit from health subsidies, a high percentage of supplementary health insurance funds in the private sector is consumed, while it is better to adopt measures for the use of this resource in the public sector.