05.09.2018 | Editorial
When is it too expensive? Cost-effectiveness thresholds and health care decision-making
Erschienen in: The European Journal of Health Economics | Ausgabe 2/2019
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The pressure on both tax and insurance-based health care budgets has been high for many years. On the demand side, pressure is increased by an aging population and higher living standards which raise expectations regarding medical services. On the supply side, expensive new health technologies offer new treatment opportunities for patients but often at a (very) high price. Since these high prices are not necessarily a reflection of large health gains, politicians, academics and society need to answer the question when such technologies are ‘too expensive’. When is it justified to not reimburse or use such technologies, effectively limiting supply in collectively financed health care systems? Surely, such a question is not easily answered and draws in subsets of questions from different disciplines, including clinical and ethical angles. …Anzeige