Possible rise of out-of-pocket health expenditures in 2007-8

A number of health officials in Iran forecast a sharp rise in out-of-pocket health expenditures (OOP) in the coming year (2007-8). They all say that pre-decided 4300 Toman (approximately 5 dollars) per capita healthcare share of the government (Saraneye darman in Farsi) for the year 2007-8 may cause a sharp 15% increase of the OOP payments. Then people will have to pay up to 70% (even 80%) of medical care expenses out of their pocket. They all concern about the bankruptcy of the private hospitals as a direct consequence of high OOP payments. Their suggestion is to increase the per capita share of the government to 7000-8000 Toman (8.5 -9 dollars) so that people directly pay much less than what they currently pay for healthcare services . Currently, OOP payments constitute 55% to 60% of total health expenditures in Iran. Private sector is the main provider of the outpatient health care. Inpatient care is provided chiefly by the government in most parts of the country. However, in big cities like Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Shiraz, and Mashad, private hospitals are providing an important portion of the population's needs to inpatient care.
Sources:
1-http://pezeshkan.ir/ .Feb 3, 2007 (original reference: Mehr News interview with Dr. Bijan Shahbazkhani, and Dr. Jahanbakhsh Aminia , members of the Health Commission of the Parliament)
2-http://pezeshkan.ir .Feb 4, 2007 (original reference: Mehr News interview with Dr. Ahmad Reza Jamshidi, the Vice Chairman of the I.R.Iran's Medical Council)
3-http://pezeshkan.ir . Feb 3, 2007 (original reference: Fars News interview with Dr. Mohammad Hossein Tarighat, the Vice Chaiman of the Welfare Ministry)
Code:5A

Health in the news: Possible negative growth rate for per capita public health expenditure

"Next year, per capita health expenditure share of the government will face a 2-percent negative growth" said the vice chairman of the Health Commission of the Parliament, Mr. Baghbanian. This may cause people to pay more out of their pocket to balance the total health expenditures.
According to the fourth National Development Plan (2005-2009) per capita health expenditure share of the government was determined to be 7000 Toman (approximately 7.5 USD) while the real allocated share of the government for the coming year is 3660 Toman (3.2 USD) for residents of urban areas and 1660 Toman (1.2 USD) for the rural dwellers he added.
Mr Baghbanian says that residents of rural areas cannot use their health plans to utilize urban health facilities.

Source: www.aftabyazd. com, Jan 25, 2007 No:1995

Code: 20N

Health in the news: Total Health Expenditure as a percent of GDP in Iran is less than that of comparable countries

Dr. Amini , member of the Health and Treatment Commission of the Parliament says that in recent years while gross domestic product (GDP) has been gone up, the health expenditure percent of GDP has not been proportionately increased. In Iran, this ratio is approximately 5.6% while 7%-8% is that of comparable countries . Amini added that now the budget deficit of the Ministry of Health is 350 billion Tomans (approximately 380 million dollars) and university hospitals are heavily indebted to pharmaceutical companies for unpaid purchase of medicines. As a result, patients have to pay out of their pocket for prescription medicines in many occasions.
Source: http://www.aftabyazd.com/ , Jan 13, 2007 No: 1984
Code:14N

Health in the news:Per capita therapeutic health care should be increased to 10,000 Tomans (approx 11 USD) by 2007

" To be in accord with the fourth National Development Plan the government should increase the therapeutic per capita health care to around 11 USD by the year 2007; as a result the out of pocket (OOP) payment will decrease from current 60% to 50%" Heidarpour Shahrezaei said to ISNA. He stressed that according to the fourth National Development Plan the share of out of pocket payment (people's share in health expenditure) is to be 30%.

Source: Aftabyazd online newspaper, www.aftabyazd.com, NO: 1973 , December 27, 2006

My comment: This may be considered an incredible jump. Now, the government pays 4.5 USD per person for therapuetic health care. I think 30% increase is what we can expect instead. I'd like to add that should the government accepts to pay this magic share, it will not guarantee the expected decrease in the share of out-of-pocket payments. Sudden increase in interest rate for expensive therapeutic services by private sector soon after the rise in the goverment's share might cause OOP to go up to some extent.
Code:3N