Comparison of the Distribution of Household Financial Contributions to the Health System before and during COVID-19 Outbreak: Evidence from Nationwide Survey in Iran.

The households' health expenditures changed considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic and these changes were the same for the urban and rural areas. Despite COVID-19 multi-faceted shocks, the findings of this study showed a slight decline in the incidence of CHE and impoverishment caused by health expenditures. It might be due to forgone health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from these household surveys have some limits to depicting the real effects of this crisis.