ABSTRACT
The Iranian healthcare system consists of public, private, and non-government organization (NGO)-funded healthcare. The Iranian health system faces a number of challenges when it comes to access, equity, quality, and efficiency. In order to address these challenges, a series of reforms called the Health Transformation Plan (HTP) have been implemented since May 2014 by the MOHMR to expand access to healthcare services, reduce the catastrophic and impoverishing out-of-pocket (OOP) payments, promote equity, and improve the quality of healthcare services. The HTP has expanded healthcare coverage horizontally and vertically. Almost 11 million people—primarily informal sector workers, self-employed, unemployed, or those out of the labor force—were insured by the Iran Health Insurance Organization (IHIO) during the HTP implementation. The HTP increased the demand for expensive hospital services. The utilization of hospital curative services was far higher than expected. Thus, the total healthcare cost as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) in Iran grew from 6.6" in 2013 to 7.5" in 2014.
