Estimating the Catastrophic Health Cost in Iranian Health Insurance Policyholders and Its Relevant Factors

Present study was conducted to investigate the exposure of the population covered by Iranian health insurance to the catastrophic cost of health.

This cross-sectional study was performed on household income expenditure data. The sample included 20,764 households. The model of the World Health Organization was employed to measure the catastrophic cost of health. After extracting the data of the insured from the questionnaire, they were entered into SPSS statistical software.

From the total sample studied, 4.89% of households were faced with a catastrophic cost of health. The findings show that female-headed households are more likely to incur catastrophic costs. Some levels of education of the head of the household reduced the likelihood of incurring a catastrophic cost. Unemployed households and other occupations were significantly more costly. The results of the analysis also indicated that the using dental services has a positive and significant effect on households facing catastrophic health costs. The chances of facing the catastrophic cost of health in the fourth, fifth, and sixth decades were significantly higher than those of other income decades.

The results of the study showed that Iran's health insurance coverage has not been able to fully protect the insured from the catastrophic costs of health. Improving the livelihood of the community along with paying special attention to vulnerable families and patients with special diseases will play an important role in reducing this index in the insured of the Iranian Health Insurance Organization.