Economic Expenditures of Multiple Sclerosis Medications and Feasibility of Providing Health Insurance Policies for Medications

Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), a brain disorder, is very costly and requires supportive care and management of symptoms. MS is, in fact, a highly debilitating chronic disease with social and economic consequences. It has been shown that insurance policies can influence the economic burden of MS by reducing the cost of drug coverage. This study, therefore, aimed to probe the feasibility of providing health insurance policies for MS medications. The population of this retrospective and applied study constituted all Iranian MS patients taking Interferon drugs from 2000 to 2009. Data gathering tool was a checklist through which the related data were collected from National Statistics Center of Iran and the Ministry of Health (Deputy of Food and Drug Affairs and Deputy of Health). Data were analyzed by means of Excel and Eviews 6 (econometric software). The predictions showed that the total cost of Interferon drugs in the country would be 20,206,788,808 Rls in the next 30 years (provided that the government’s subsidy continues).The results also showed that the cost of insurance covering Interferon for the whole country (scenario I), for the urban population (scenario II), and for only 50% of urban population (scenario III) were, respectively, 354/209, 693/261, and 385 /523 Rls. The present feasibility study, showing possibilities for different affordable insurance scenarios, presents practical recommendations for health sector policy makers to cover Interferon drug costs.