The Study of Out-of-pocket Payment and the Exposure of Households with Catastrophic Health Expenditures Following the Health Transformation Plan in Iran.

Introduction: One of the main objectives of health systems is providing financial protection against out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditures. According to the 2011 report by the World Health Organization in the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO), a huge portion of health service in Iran is paid OOP, which is around 58% of the total health system expenditure. Furthermore, all over the world, around 25 million households (100 million people) are trapped in poverty as a result of paying health service costs.