Economics, ethics and the public in health care policy

In: International social science journal: ISSJ, Heft 161

Abstract

Suggests that typically health policy is concerned both with the overall level of health, and with its distribution among the population. The health-related quality of life of a population needs to be measured by some generic preference-based instrument which takes into account the values of the entire population, since everyone who is affected by health care priority setting has an ethical right to have their views heard in the interests of accountability, the more that policy formulation and performance can be quantified, the better. (Original abstract - amended)