The Contingent-valuation Method

CV method was used to measure the value of supplemental health care in Israel, i.e., the willingness to pay for consulting a specialist of the patient’s choice and the willingness to pay for choosing a surgeon and reduce the waiting time for surgery. A sample of about 1,000 families in the metropolitan area of Haifa were included in the study, and interviews at home visits were carried out to elicit the willingness-to-pay responses. The respondents were asked whether they would use each of the services at four different prices. To estimate the total willingness to pay in the population it was assumed that the maximum willingness to pay was equal to the highest price where the respondent would still use the service. The validity of the willingness-to-pay responses was analysed in a regression analysis. A polychotomous logit model was used that estimates the probabilities of the five possible responses to the willingness-to-pay question (i.e., the five different ranges for willingness to pay implied by the four prices). The regression results were roughly in accordance with the predictions of the authors and they conclude that the willingness-to-pay estimates derived in the study reasonably reveal consumer preferences and that the studied supplemental health care services seem to be beneficial from a societal viewpoint (i.e., that benefits exceed costs). Although the study by Golan and Shechter is interesting, and was based on a well-executed survey, some issues can be raised in connection with it. A limitation