While retirees are forced to forego treatment due to their inability to afford the costs, supplemental health insurance has reduced its level of coverage, creating dire conditions for retirees.
On Sunday, September 21, the state-run ILNA news agency published a report on the problems retirees face in using supplemental health insurance.
According to this report, neither basic nor supplemental insurance is able to meet retirees’ medical needs.
Retirees Return to the Streets Across Iran Chanting “We Refuse to Live Under Oppression”
ILNA quoted a retired worker who pointed to the poor services of the supplemental insurance company “Atieh Sazan Hafez,” saying that due to his illness, he must undergo periodic tests every six months.
This retiree recently paid 30 million rials (about $30) for one of these periodic tests, of which only 5 million rials were reimbursed by his supplemental insurance.
He said: “Every month, money is deducted from our account for supplemental insurance, but we don’t get the services we should. Neither the basic insurance nor the supplemental insurance meets our needs. 5 million rials (about $5) doesn’t even cover a doctor’s visit.”
In addition to general inflation affecting all sectors, the removal of subsidized foreign exchange for medicine and medical equipment has had an even greater impact on the rise of medical costs.
Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, the regime’s health minister, announced in November 2024 the elimination of subsidized foreign exchange for medicine and medical equipment.
From January 2025, pharmaceutical companies increased the prices of their products by up to five times.
In February 2025, Shahram Ghaffari, deputy director of treatment at the Social Security Organization, announced price increases for more than 400 types of medicine covered by the organization and added that the price hikes ranged from 10–20% to several times higher.
The removal of state foreign exchange allocations for medicine and medical equipment in the 2025 budget bill began to show its effects in April.
On April 13, amid reports of a new wave of rising healthcare costs in Iran, Mehdi Pir-Salahi, head of the Food and Drug Organization, announced that eliminating state foreign exchange for importing medical equipment meant that the exchange rate for medical equipment imports would increase sevenfold.
The effects of these changes extended to other areas of healthcare as well. Now, while the prices of medicine and healthcare services have risen, supplemental insurance providers are unable to cover the costs for their insured.
Even Atieh Sazan Hafez supplemental insurance, which operates in a single sector and is affiliated with the Health Ministry’s Health Organization, has not performed satisfactorily.
ILNA quoted a retiree covered by basic insurance and Atieh Sazan Hafez supplemental insurance who said: “The pension is meager and the healthcare services are weak. The Social Security Fund, into which we paid from our wages for many years, now in our old age does not support us as it should.”
