Allocating resources to health care: is the QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Year) a technical solution to a political problem?
The allocation of health care resources has always been and will remain a contentious issue. Classically, the arguments have been posed in terms of the "need" for health care and/or the "right" to treatment. More recently, there have been attempts to shape the debate in consequentialist terms, by introducing a composite outcome measure. In the United Kingdom, the QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Year) has been promoted enthusiastically. But, like many other such proposals, it is a dodo, and one that is potentially politically dangerous.
Carr-Hill
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Centre for Health Economics, University of York, Heslington, England.
D003657:Decision Making; D004526:Efficiency; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006295:Health Resources / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008722:Methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006113:United Kingdom; D026712:Value of Life