Free Health Insurance

During the past three years following implementation of the 2014 Health Reform Plan, 11 million people were brought under coverage of free health insurance, said Health Minister Seyed Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, on Friday, IRNA reported. Under the Salamat (health) Insurance scheme, different aspects of medical bills of patients at state-run hospitals are covered. The Health Reform Plan was introduced to fulfill President Hassan Rouhani’s election campaign promise of health care for all Iranians by 2018 under a nationwide health insurance program. Earlier Dr. Mohammad Javad Kabir, managing director of Iranian Health Insurance Organization (IHIO) had said, “The government’s general approach is that those who can’t afford to pay insurance premium should be identified and exempted.”