title: Future costs in economic evaluation. A comment on Lee.
abstract: In a recent article in this journal Lee argued that indirect medical costs should be ignored in economic evaluations. To reach this conclusion, Lee uses an unrealistic and uncommon budget constraint. This comment highlights a number of methodological problems in Lee's analysis. Moreover, it highlights that looking at current practice of economic evaluation, Lee's model implies the inclusion rather than the exclusion of indirect medical costs.
authors.affiliation: Department for Prevention and Health Services Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Talitha L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Feenstra
authors.forename: Pieter H M
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: van Baal
authors.forename: Afshin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gandjour
authors.forename: Werner B F
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Brouwer
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002017:Budgets; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004470:Economics, Medical; D005102:Health Expenditures; D018803:Models, Economic