Household fairness in financial contribution in the health system in East Azerbaijan province

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: household fairness in financial contribution is one of the important objectives of the health system. Health systems policy should also be in line with justice in order to protect our society from the financial risks of some health expenses, to avoid catastrophic expenditures due to health expenses and not be dragged under the poverty line. The purpose of this study is to calculate the extent to which households are exposed catastrophic expenditures, and the degree of justice and participation in the financing of households in East Azerbaijan province in health costs and the impact of factors affecting participation in financing. Methods: This study is a descriptive and analytical study, which uses the secondary data of health accounts of East Azerbaijan province to calculate the amount of out-of-pocket and household catastrophic expenditures and the distribution of household income using the Gini coefficient and the distribution of health expenditures with index concentration and household fairness in financial contribution using the Kakwani index. Result: The results of the present study showed that the average out-of-pocket payments of the upper quintile households are higher than the lower quintile. Out of 1707 households, 234 households (13.72%) have incurred catastrophic expenditure. And the highest catastrophic expenditure with 36.36% is related to the fifth quintile and the lowest catastrophic expenditure with 10/73is related to the second quintile, and the Gini index was 0.26 the concentration index was 0.74 and the Kakwani index was 0.48. Conclusion: According to the interpretation of of household income and health expenditures have been unequal. And justice in household fairness in financial contribution is progressive. That is, distributing health expenditures relative to income benefits the poor.