Role of Health Insurance in Facing Health Expenditures Among Urban Female-headed Households in Iran

Abstract

Background: Health insurance is one of the important parts of financing in the health system to reduce inequality in household health expenditures. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the role of health insurance in facing health expenditures among urban female-headed households in Iran. Methods: This descriptive-analytical applied study was performed cross-sectionally using the double-sample selection econometrics method in Stata software (version 16) in 2021. The sample included 2645 female-headed households, and the data were prepared by the Statistics Center of Iran using a questionnaire. Results: The results showed that social security insurance, private insurance, and insurance of special organizations led to an increase in the health expenditures of female-headed households by 159896, 334137, and 18332 Rials, respectively. Increasing household size, having children, having an elderly person, increasing per capita income, and per capita tobacco expenditures led to an increase in the health expenditures of female-headed households by 875260, 1545153, 2441094, 0.32, and 1.65 Rials, respectively. Conclusions: Private insurance, social security insurance, and insurance of special organizations had the greatest impact on increasing the health expenditures of female-headed households, respectively. Therefore, it is necessary to create an integrated health insurance system that reduces insurance organizations and funds and provides the same level of coverage for health goods and services. It is also suggested to adopt policies to increase the educational level of female-headed households to reduce health expenditures.