Unpaid insurance debts push Iran's private hospitals into a cash crunch

Managers of several private hospitals in Iran say unpaid insurance claims and daily jumps in the price of medicine and equipment have drained their cash and made it hard to keep providing care. According to them, insurers have still not settled their debts from the Iranian year 1403 (2024-25).

The manager of a large hospital in one of the provincial capitals says it has contracts with about 35 basic and supplementary insurers, a welfare foundation, a bank and an organisation, and none of them has paid its 1403 debt. He says Dey Insurance and Dana Insurance owe the most.

IV fluids and insulin: prices that change every day

The manager of another hospital with more than 1,200 medical and administrative staff says the price of Ringer's solution has risen about 600% in the past three years, and the price of insulin and common blood-pressure drugs has gone up by as much as 50% in the past month alone. He says replacing the medicine and equipment used gets harder every day with this inflation.

The manager of a private hospital with more than 300 beds and nearly 20 operating theatres says the hospital has set up a separate unit just to record new drug prices, because medicine prices change daily while medical tariffs are set once a year. He says the hospital's income no longer brings any profit and only covers running costs and staff salaries.

Patients who give up treatment

Medical staff say some patients, because of the cost of visits, medicine and tests, take fewer drugs, switch medicines or abandon treatment halfway. Some injectable drugs have also been removed from outpatient insurance cover.

The hospitals' financial crisis had already led to staff protests: radiology staff at Ziaeian Hospital in Tehran stopped work over four months of unpaid wages. Together with high inflation and the collapse of the rial, the crisis has made medical care ever more expensive for Iranian families.

The price of Ringer's solution has risen about 600% in three years, and the price of insulin by up to 50% in one month.