Table 1. Main Features of Health Insurance Schemes in Iran .

	IHIO				SSO	Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation	17 Well-Resourced Funds a
Features	Government Employees	Rural Residents	Iranians Fund	Other Sectors
Who is insured?	Government employees	Residents in rural areas and cities less than 20000 population	Self-employed	Students, disables, families with injured persons during war, some professional associations, and so on	Employees of the formal private sectors, self-employed and voluntary contributors	Poor	Banks, Tehran Municipality, the National Broadcasting Organization, private insurance companies, Petroleum Industry Health Organization, etc.
Population size (2014)	6140259	23243395	2875232	1864795	37547508	1520000	40000 population of Iran insurance company, 50000 Tehran Municipality, 536571 Petroleum
Contribution rate (2014)	6% up to 2 fold of the minimum wage (paid by employee, employer, and government)	6% of the minimum wage (paid by the government)	Fixed premiums (50% by the government)	Fixed premiums (paid by the government)	30% (20% employers, 7% workers, 3% government) of which 9% is for health benefit package	6% of the minimum wage (paid by the government)	13% of wage without ceiling for Iran Insurance Company and Central Insurance Company (4% employee and 9% employer)
Per capita expenditures (2014) 26	225000 Rb	82375 R	215000 R	215000 R for families with injured persons during war, 120000 R for disables	285210 R	136000 R	More than 700000 R for Iran Insurance Company and Tehran Municipality. It is much higher for Petroleum Industry
Benefit Package	All curative services are potentially included in the package. A few services are excluded including cosmetic surgeries, transplants (eg, heart, liver, and fingers), infertility services, joint replacements, non-accidental injuries, cochlea implants, and some dental care procedures	Same as government employees	Same as government employees	Same as government employees	Same as government employees with additional services like free of charge services for especial and expensive diseases like cancer, Thalassemia, Hemophilia, kidney failure, etc. Additional financial coverage for patients hospitalized in CCU, NICU, and ICU. - Cash benefits for funeral services - Free of charge health services in SSO’ health centers	Same as government employees. Additional services based on population needs like hearing aids, glasses, kidney transplant up to 50000000 R, free chemotherapy drugs, and also more financial protection for medical equipments	All curative services are potentially included in the package. A few services are excluded including cosmetic surgeries, VIP rooms, etc.
User charges	10% and 30% of in-patient and out-patients health services, respectively, based on public medical tariffs. Also the gap between private and public tariffs in private centers which leads to high OOP payments for patients	10% and 30% of in-patient and out-patients health services, respectively, based on public medical tariffs. Also the gap between private and public tariffs in private centers which leads to high OOP payments for patients	10% and 30 % of in-patient and out-patients health services, respectively, based on public medical tariffs. Also the gap between private and public tariffs in private centers which leads to high OOP payments for patients	10% and 30% of in-patient and out-patients health services, respectively, based on public medical tariffs. Also the gap between private and public tariffs in private centers which leads to high OOP payments for patients	10% and 30% of in-patient and out-patients health services, respectively, based on public medical tariffs. Also the gap between private and public tariffs in private centers. No copayment in SSO’s hospitals and health centers	Free of charge for in-patient health services in public sector, and 30% of out-patients services. A part of the gap between private and public tariffs in private centers is covered by the this scheme	Free of charge in both private and public health centers

Abbreviations: IHIO, Iran Health Insurance Organization; SSO, Social Security Organization; CCU, coronary care unit; NICU, neonatal intensive care unit; ICU, intensive care unit; OOP, out-of-pocket.

^aData for all those 17 institutes are not available but data for the main institutes are presented (In general they are like each other).

^bR= Rial (Iran currency)