Mounting insurance arrears, rising medicine prices, and demographic pressures push Iran’s healthcare sector toward unsustainability.

The Iranian healthcare system is sliding toward collapse under the weight of ballooning debts, mounting costs, and an aging population, according to recent warnings from lawmakers, medical professionals, and labor representatives.

Reza Jabbari, a member of the parliament’s presiding board, cautioned this week that the regime will soon be unable to sustain basic healthcare expenses. Speaking alongside Health Minister Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, he said that nearly 70 percent of insurance resources are currently absorbed by medicine and equipment.

Jabbari stressed that without reforms and more strategic purchasing, the system could face the same crippling shortages already evident in the country’s energy sector. He also predicted a rise in chronic and non-communicable diseases that the system will not be able to manage if current trends continue.

The warnings intensified after Shahram Kalantari, head of Iran’s Pharmacists Association, revealed that insurers and subsidy programs have failed to pay their obligations, leaving the pharmaceutical supply chain in a critical state.

He detailed outstanding debts of 100 trillion rials ($100 million) from Health Insurance, 150 trillion rials ($150 million) from Social Security, and 90 trillion rials ($90 million) from the Daroyar plan since July.