Accounting for Future Costs in Medical Cost-Effectiveness Analysis / David Meltzer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meltzer, David.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5946.

NBER working paper series no. w5946

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1997.

Summary:

Most medical cost-effectiveness analyses include future costs only for related illnesses but this approach is controversial. This paper demonstrates that cost-effectiveness analysis is consistent with lifetime utility maximization only if it includes all future medical and non-medical expenditures. Estimates of the magnitude of these future costs suggest that they may substantially alter both the absolute and relative cost-effectiveness of medical interventions intervention increases length of life more than quality of life. In older populations, current methods overstate the cost-effectiveness of interventions which extend life compared to" interventions which improve the quality of life.

Notes:

Print version record

February 1997.