The Value of Health

Abstract

Economic evaluations of health care can help to make better medical decisions. Decisions about life and death. Our current methods are wrong. Reality is different from what we did believe. Policy decisions based on our current tools are not at all in the best interests of patients. We, scientists, have the responsibility to bridge the gap between theory and reality. Prospect theory respects reality. Now, we have all the opportunity to reliably value health. And, these values can even be obtained free of charge: we do not have to collect additional data. We can apply prospect theory immediately. What remains is to spread the word.

Keywords: value of life, health economics, prospect theory, health care, health valuation

JEL Classification: D81, I10, D61