Determinants of Catastrophic Health Expenditures: A Study in Hamedan, Iran

Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) has been explained as a growth in spending for health care services that exceeds 40% of total household income. Therefore, devoting a large portion of household resources to health care services can greatly threaten to standards of living in the short and long term. The present study was an attempt to evaluate the financial contribution of Iranian households in health care services system in Hamadan Province in 2017. This cross-sectional study reflected on spending for health care services. For this purpose, the data were extracted from the household expenditure statistics published in the database of the Statistical Center of Iran. Accordingly, among the common econometric models associated with the subject matter, the logit model was employed, and the data were then analyzed using the Stata 14 software. The study findings revealed that 8.9% of the total household costs had been allocated to health care services. The results also showed that 3.5% of the households faced catastrophic cost among all the studied households. Upon examining the factors, significant relationship was further observed between the probability of exposure to CHE and living in rural areas, income decile group, number of employees, and marital status in the households concerned. It was concluded that poor distribution of health care services, unequal distribution of income and wealth among jobs, as well as socioeconomic conditions could influence CHE. Therefore, there is a need to plan and develop policies for better access to health care services.