May 27, 2010
The Question
Does willingness to pay for a reduction in risk of death vary with age or ill health?
What we found
Results show only weak support for the notion that willingness to pay declines with age, and even then, only after age 70. There is no support for the idea that people with chronic heart or lung disease or cancer are willing to pay less to reduce mortality risk than people without these illnesses. If anything, people so stricken are willing to pay more.
Why it matters
These results do not support current practices in benefit-cost analyses at the US Environmental Protection Agency and other public health and call into question the use of such measures as QALYs, which devalue benefits to the infirm and reduce benefits proportionally to the age of the beneficiary.
