Willingness-to-pay as a measure of benefits. Relevant questions in the context of public decisionmaking about health care programs.

Measuring the benefits of health and lifesaving programs is a difficult task. Nevertheless, to compare in commensurate units both the costs and benefits of a program using the method of cost-benefit analysis, the values of life extension and improved quality of life should be expressed in monetary terms. The method of willingness-to-pay (WTP) is one approach to the valuation of health benefits,1-" which, if properly employed, is consistent with the principles of welfare economies and cost-benefit analysis. In general, willingness-to-pay questions can be used in the analysis of private and public decisionmaking.'2 Although the method is not commonly used to measure benefits in private decisionmaking, it has

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