Eliciting Stated Health Preferences

The economic analysis of many health policies requires evaluation of the benefits of programs that may prolong human lives. This article contributes to the development of credible values for longevity, demonstrating the feasibility of applying stated-pref erence market-research techniques to a new area of preference revelation and framing the problem as extending longevity under realistic health states associated with ad vanced age. Respondents to the authors' stated-preference survey clearly indicated that quality of life affects the value of quantity of life. The results demonstrate the sensitivity of life-extension values to specific health and activity-limitation conditions. The article also discusses problems that remain to be solved before valid and reliable longevity values can be obtained. Key words: health preference elicitation; longevity; willingness to pay; market research; quality of life; policy. (Med Decis Making 1998; 18 suppl:S57-S67)