Consequences of Medical Insurance on Social Welfare; an Evidenced Based Study

The Iranian Constitution Law has recognized social security as inalienable rights of people and government's duty (1). The establishment of a trustworthy system for providing healthcare expenses and access to an on time and efficient medical services are among the important concerns of governments. Some countries, depending on their status and economic and cultural growth, have made progress in this area. As one of those countries, Iran has formed a comprehensive system of social welfare and security based on the principles of public welfare and social security objectives. The fulfillment of these objectives constitutes an effective step towards social justice, as several studies reveled that inequality can negatively influence on health condition (2-4). Identifying the degree of capability in achieving the goals and the quality of medical insurance system performance of the country could direct the future plans of the country in this area; the perception of authorities and officials of the country on the effects and success of these efforts will serve as grounds for better evaluation and promotion of processes, planning and executive actions for the optimization of medical insurance and responding to the inalienable rights of people (5-8). This cross-sectional study conducted from Febru-ary 2001 to February 2002 by using the non-random sampling method. The study population was 250 patients attended at Shahid Mostafa Kho-meini, Shohadaye Tajrish and Imam Hossein hospitals in Tehran. Following data collection, the study population was divided into two groups, including insured and uninsured subjects. In this manuscript we are presenting our preliminary findings. One hundred and fifty seven of the study subjects were insured and ninety three were not under any insurance coverage. The insured subjects were individuals who had coverage from at least one of the medical insurance systems in the country whereas the uninsured subjects had no medical insurance coverage. Subsequently, the ability to pay and accessibility of the individuals of the two insured and uninsured groups were compared in different diagnostic and medical parts, including physicians, pharmacies, medical laboratories , radiology (plain-film radiograph), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomo-graphic (CT) scan, hospitalization (for medical treatment) and internment in surgical wards. Of the 250 patients, one hundred and fifty five patients were male and the rest were female. The youngest and oldest patient had 15 year-old and