Willingness to pay for what? A note on alternative definitions of health care program benefits for contingent valuation studies

Gillian R. Currie, Cam Donaldson, Bernie J. O'Brien*, Greg L. Stoddart, George W. Torrance, Michael F. Drummond

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The authors examine a number of ways in which willingness to pay (WTP) can be defined for measurement and use in a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of a collectively funded health care program. They show how ambiguous specification of the program consequences that respondents should consider in their WTP responses can lead to problems of double counting or zero counting in a subsequent CBA. An example is whether the value of lost time from work because of poor health should be included by a CBA analyst (e.g., valued at the wage rate) as a separate cost item or whether this has already been monetized and included in respondents' WTP data. The authors highlight how differences in assumed or actual institutional structures are often ignored in measures of WTP and the consequences of this for the interpretation of WTP data.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)493-497
Number of pages5
JournalMedical Decision Making
Volume22
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2002
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Contingent valuation
  • Cost-benefit analysis
  • Willingness to pay

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health Policy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Willingness to pay for what? A note on alternative definitions of health care program benefits for contingent valuation studies'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this