The social value of health programmes: is age a relevant factor?

Eva Rodríguez and Jose-Luis Pinto-Prades

Health Economics, 2000, vol. 9, issue 7, 611-621

Abstract: In cost‐effectiveness analysis (CEA) it is usually assumed that a quality‐adjusted life‐year (QALY) is of equal value to everybody, irrespective of the patient's age. However, it is possible that society assigns different social values to a QALY, according to who gets it. In this paper, we discuss the possibility of weighting health benefits for age in CEA. We also examine the possibility that age‐related preferences depend on the size of the health gain. An experiment was performed to test these hypotheses. The assessment of results suggests that the patient's age is a relevant factor when assessing health gains. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Date: 2000
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https://doi.org/10.1002/1099-1050(200010)9:73.0.CO;2-R

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:9:y:2000:i:7:p:611-621

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