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

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  • Eva Rodríguez
  • José Luis Pinto

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.

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  • Eva Rodríguez & José Luis Pinto, 2000. "The social value of health programmes: is age a relevant factor?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(7), pages 611-621, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:9:y:2000:i:7:p:611-621
    DOI: 10.1002/1099-1050(200010)9:7<611::AID-HEC540>3.0.CO;2-R
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    2. Paul Dolan & Rebecca Shaw & Aki Tsuchiya & Alan Williams, 2005. "QALY maximisation and people's preferences: a methodological review of the literature," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(2), pages 197-208, February.
    3. Stavros Petrou & Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala & Angela Robinson & Rachel Baker, 2013. "A Person Trade-Off Study to Estimate Age-Related Weights for Health Gains in Economic Evaluation," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 31(10), pages 893-907, October.
    4. Mira Johri & Laura J. Damschroder & Brian J. Zikmund‐Fisher & Peter A. Ubel, 2005. "The importance of age in allocating health care resources: does intervention‐type matter?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(7), pages 669-678, July.
    5. Jeannette Winkelhage & Adele Diederich, 2012. "The Relevance of Personal Characteristics in Allocating Health Care Resources—Controversial Preferences of Laypersons with Different Educational Backgrounds," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, January.
    6. Aki Tsuchiya, 2012. "Distributional Judgements in the Context of Economic Evaluation," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 38, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Helen Scarborough & Jeff Bennett, 2012. "Cost–Benefit Analysis and Distributional Preferences," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14376.
    8. Karen Huang & Regan M. Bernhard & Netta Barak-Corren & Max Bazerman & Joshua D. Greene, 2021. "Veil-of-ignorance reasoning mitigates self-serving bias in resource allocation during the COVID-19 crisis," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, January.
    9. Rodríguez-Míguez, Eva & Herrero, Carmen & Pinto-Prades, José Luis, 2004. "Using a point system in the management of waiting lists: the case of cataracts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 585-594, August.
    10. Aki Tsuchiya & Richard Edlin & Paul Dolan, 2009. "Measuring the societal value of lifetime health," Working Papers 2009010, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised May 2009.
    11. Gyrd-Hansen, Dorte, 2004. "Investigating the social value of health changes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1101-1116, November.
    12. John McKie & Bradley Shrimpton & Jeff Richardson & Rosalind Hurworth, 2011. "The monetary value of a life year: evidence from a qualitative study of treatment costs," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(8), pages 945-957, August.
    13. Mæstad, Ottar & Norheim, Ole Frithjof, 2012. "A universal preference for equality in health? Reasons to reconsider properties of applied social welfare functions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1836-1843.
    14. Denburg, Avram E. & Ungar, Wendy J. & Chen, Shiyi & Hurley, Jeremiah & Abelson, Julia, 2020. "Does moral reasoning influence public values for health care priority setting?: A population-based randomized stated preference survey," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(6), pages 647-658.
    15. Mæstad, Ottar & Norheim, Ole Frithjof, 2009. "Eliciting people's preferences for the distribution of health: A procedure for a more precise estimation of distributional weights," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 570-577, May.
    16. Paul Dolan & Aki Tsuchiya, 2003. "The person trade‐off method and the transitivity principle: an example from preferences over age weighting," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(6), pages 505-510, June.
    17. Thomas Ward & Ruben E. Mujica-Mota & Anne E. Spencer & Antonieta Medina-Lara, 2022. "Incorporating Equity Concerns in Cost-Effectiveness Analyses: A Systematic Literature Review," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 45-64, January.
    18. Clazien Bouwmans & Annemarie Kolk & Mark Oppe & Saskia Schawo & Elly Stolk & Michel Agthoven & Jan Buitelaar & LeonaHakkaart Roijen, 2014. "Validity and responsiveness of the EQ-5D and the KIDSCREEN-10 in children with ADHD," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(9), pages 967-977, December.
    19. Richardson, Jeff & McKie, John, 2007. "Economic evaluation of services for a National Health Scheme: The case for a fairness-based framework," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 785-799, July.
    20. Adele Diederich & Jeannette Winkelhage & Norman Wirsik, 2011. "Age as a Criterion for Setting Priorities in Health Care? A Survey of the German Public View," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(8), pages 1-10, August.
    21. David L.B. Schwappach, 2003. "Does it matter who you are or what you gain? an experimental study of preferences for resource allocation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(4), pages 255-267, April.

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