Rationing Medicine: Threats from European Cost-Effectiveness Models to America's Seniors and other Vulnerable Populations

While policymakers have often expressed sticker shock at the prices of certain therapies to treat life-threatening illnesses and are right to explore options to lower costs of treatment, one methodology they should reject is the Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) standard used in the U.K. and elsewhere. QALY assigns a monetary value to the quality of life and survival-length for patients. QALY has generated controversy, including in the U.K., where its use led to delays in the approval of new cancer treatments already widely available in other countries—and meant the deaths of patients waiting for those potentially lifesaving treatments. In “Rationing Medicine,” Dr. William Smith lays out the case against using QALY or similar methodologies in the U.S., arguing that it tends to lead to denial of care for vulnerable patients. By rejecting QALY, policymakers in the U.S. can chart a more hopeful course for American patients and limit the government’s power over healthcare.