Paper #473
- Title:
- The social value of health programs: Is age a relevant factor?
- Authors:
- Eva RodrÃguez and José Luis Pinto
- Date:
- June 2000
- Abstract:
- In cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) it is usually assumed that a 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 results assessing suggest that the patient's age is a relevant factor when assessing health gains.
- Keywords:
- QALY, age weights, social welfare function
- JEL codes:
- I18, D61, D63
- Area of Research:
- Labour, Public, Development and Health Economics
- CRES Series number:
- 14
- Published in:
- Health Economics, 9, (2000), pp. 611-621
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