Introduction: The urban life and the problems of megalopolises have caused families
to fail paying attention to the aging. According to the viewpoint from the experts in
healthcare fields; the rising population of the aging in the country will expose the related
social organizations and institutions with complex difficulties in an imminent
outlook. The present study has dealt with this topic by means of the data derived from
the project “Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART-2)”
which has been implemented in the Municipality of Tehran in 2011. This study is an
applied type and its data has been gathered by a cross-sectional technique. In order to
collect information in 22 districts and 368 neighborhoods in Tehran, data were collected
by using a multi-stage sampling technique. The total sample size included
1’117’845 people and statistical analyses were done on 15’030 old participants. Similarly,
the needed data in this study in non- old group were examined in 102’355 people.
Likewise, the related data to healthcare costs and the needed data for the calculation
of catastrophic costs were extracted from both of old and non- old groups (<60
years). In this study, the mean healthcare costs of diseases was explored in both groups
of the aging and the ones under the age of 60. The catastrophic healthcare costs were
calculated for the two studied groups by means of the method confirmed by the World
Health Organization (WHO).
Results: The findings from this research show that the old age rate in Tehran is higher
in compared tothis rate throughout the country. In a statistical survey conducted on
healthcare cost index, a significant difference with a confidence interval (99%) was
observed in two age groups under 60 years of age (non- old people) and over 60 years
of age (aging). A review on hospitalization costs, diagnostic services cost, medical
examination and transportation costs for medical services in both groups of the aging
and those under the age of 60 indicated that a significant difference was seen at a
confidence level of 99% while 12.9% of the families with old members might incur
catastrophic healthcare costs. At the same time by exploring in catastrophic healthcare
costs in both groups of the aging and those under the age of 60 a significant statistical
difference was seen among both studied groups.
Conclusion: The Iranian healthcare system is exposed to challenge the high- rising of
such costs like other medical systems. The results of this study indicates that the
healthcare costs and catastrophic healthcare expenses are at high level in the families
with old members in Tehran. The rising catastrophic costs in the aging may be due to
many reasons such as high percentages of personal payment and inadequate coverage
by insurance. It seems that the supporting policies and the exemptions from the payment
of healthcare costs should be employed to reduce the percentage of exposing the
families to catastrophic healthcare costs for the aging as a specific population group.