Abstract

Background and objective: The high amount of catastrophic healthcare costs (CHCs) ‎is one of the challenging issues facing modern societies. Therefore, the present study ‎aimed to determine the burden of CHCs on patients admitted to selected hospitals in ‎Semnan and Shahrood.‎ Methods: This study was a descriptive-analytic study and applied in terms of ‎objective. The research population consisted of all patients (n = 36000) referred to ‎Semnan and Shahrood hospitals during 2017. A sample size of 385 patients was ‎randomly determined from five hospitals using Cochran’s formula. Data were collected ‎by a questionnaire of 39 questions. The formal and content validity, as well as the ‎reliability of the research tool were estimated with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of ‎‎0.85. Data were analyzed using Stata 10, SPSS 20, and LISREL 7 software.‎ Findings: Significant relationships were found between treatment-related variables, ‎including the presence of disabled and diseased individuals in the family, and CHCs (r ‎‎= 0.802). There were no significant relationships between insurance coverage and ‎CHCs (r = 0.310). The probability of facing CHCs decreased with increasing ‎household income level (r = 0.761). In order of priority, the effects of three variables ‎included the presence of disabled and diseased individuals in the family (r = 0.802), the ‎presence of family members aged over 65 or less than 5 years (r = 0.772), and ‎household income level (r = 0.761).‎ Conclusion: The results showed that the presence of disabled and diseased individuals ‎in the household had the greatest impact on facing households with CHCs. It is, ‎therefore, recommended to implement insurance plans depending on the health and ‎socioeconomic status of households‎‎‎‎‎‎.