Opinion: The U.S. shouldn’t use the ‘QALY’ in drug cost-effectiveness reviews
What's a year of life worth? The QALY aims to answer that question with a subjective price tag. It shouldn't be the main metric for guiding drug cost-effectiveness reviews.
What’s a year of life worth?
That question is at the heart of a metric called the quality-adjusted life year that is increasingly being used to make decisions about paying for new drugs.
If I was asked that question about one of my children, my answer would be “limitless,” and no one could persuade me otherwise. But others are putting a discrete price tag on it.
Answering how much a quality-adjusted life year (QALY) is worth isn’t a theoretical or philosophical exercise. A number of European health
