Catastrophic Health Expenditures for Children with Disabilities in Iran: A National Survey
Abstract Background: Higher health costs and financial burden are imposed on people with disabilities due to their health status associated with their disability. Measuring the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) can provide good evidence for health policymakers to assess the current state of financial protection of the health system. The aim of this study was to investigate the percentage of households with disabled children aged 0 to 8 years who had faced CHE due to the health costs of these children in Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 2000 households with disabled children aged 0 to 8 years in five provinces of Iran in 2020. Data were collected using the World Health Survey questionnaire and face-to-face interview. Households whose health expenditures for disabled members in the family were more than 40% of the household payment capacity were included in the group of households with CHE. Determinants of CHE were identified using regression analysis.Findings: 32.7% of households with disabled children had faced CHE. Head of household being female, poor economic status of the household, lack of supplementary insurance by a child with disabilities, having a child with mental disability and type of basic health insurance significantly increased the chances of facing CHE.Conclusion: A significant percentage of households with disabled children had faced CHE because of their disabled child's health costs. More financial protection of these households against health costs should be on the agenda of health policy makers. Implementation of payment exemption programs, direct and indirect financial support programs and having prepaid mechanisms are suggested to reduce out-of-pocket payments for health services.