Table 1 Current health insurance funds in Iran

Social Health Insurance (SHI) schemes

SHI provides basic health insurance coverage for their beneficiaries and includes three main insurance funds.

- Iran Health Insurance Organization (IHIO) IHIO includes five sub-funds 1. Governmental Employees Fund; 2. Iranian Fund for self-employed; 3. Rural Residents Fund (i.e., residents in rural areas and cities less than 20 000 population); 4. Universal Insurance Coverage Fund, which was established as part of a Health Transformation Plan in 2014 to cover uninsured persons; and 5. Other Sectors Fund (i.e., such as the poor, students, disables, families with injured persons during the war, and some professional associations).

- Social Security Organization (SSO)

SSO is a non-governmental organisation covering employees of the formal private sectors, self-employed and voluntary contributors.

- Armed Forces Medical Services Insurance Organization

This fund is responsible for covering special social cases and the army.

Institutional Health Insurance Funds (IHIFs)

These funds provide health insurance coverage to their employees individually as a fringe benefit.

17 IHIFs are run by the Petroleum Industry Health Organization, the National Broadcasting Organization, banks, and other organisations that provide the required insurance services to their employees.

Commercial Health Insurance Organisations

These organisations operate voluntarily and provide supplementary private insurance.

Examples of such funds include Alborz, Mellat, Pasargadae, Atieh Sazane Hafez.