Ghiasvand H * ¹ ( MSc ), Hadian M¹ (PhD), Maleki MR² (PhD), Shabaninejad H² ( PhD Student )

  ¹ Department of Health Economics, School of Management and Medical Informatics,

  Iran University of medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

  ² Department of Health Management, School of Management and Medical Informatics,

  Iran University of medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

  Received: 22 Apr 2010, Accepted: 20 Oct 2010

  Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of catastrophic medical payments is one of the most important concerns in most of low income and developing countries. Iran is one of the countries that Out-of-pocket payment is a major method to provide health system finances which may result in catastrophic health payments. In this study we try to identify factors that influence catastrophic health payments in patients of teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Science in 2009.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 400 patients were selected among patients hospitalized in hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences. The information was collected by a questionnaire, and the SPSS software was used to analyze the data and accomplish x² test.

Results: We found that 8 variables including gender of the household’s head, health status of the member of household, the size of household, residency in Tehran city, number of previous hospitalization, having a house, the level of income and finally complementary health insurance coverage, were influential factors on exposure to catastrophic medical payments.

Conclusion: The inefficiency of current health insurance scheme to protect patients against catastrophic medical payment was the most important result in this paper however, the complementary health insurance had a weak statistical relation with occurrence of catastrophic medical payment. It seems that health policy makers in Iran had poorly considered the economic, social, cultural, demographic and epidemiological factors while designing health insurance schemes.

  Key words: Catastrophic Medical Payment Out-Of-Pocket Payment Insurance, Health Iran University of Medical Sciences Iran

  Hakim Research Journal 2010 13(3): 145- 154.

  * Corresponding Author: Hemat highway, Iran University of medical Sciences, Department of Health Economics , Tehran , Iran . Tel: +98- 919- 1177052, Email: hesambs82@gmail.com