WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR REDUCTIONS IN ANGINA-PECTORIS ATTACKS

To compare the costs of health care programs with the benefits, the va lues of changes in health status must be expressed in monetary terms. The development of methods to estimate willingness to pay for changes in health status is therefore of interest. This paper reports the resu lts of a contingent valuation study measuring willingness to pay for r eductions in angina pectoris attacks. An innovative study design allow ed analysis of the data on willingness to pay using two approaches, a binary question and a bidding-game technique. Percentage reductions in anginal attacks were varied randomly ill different subsamples, and da ta were collected about angina pectoris status, attack rate, and incom e to test the internal validity of the contingent valuation method. Wi llingness to pay for a 50% reduction in the attack rate for three mont hs was estimated to be about SEK 2,500 ($345) with the binary approach , and about SEK 2,100 ($290) using the bidding-game technique. Regress ion analyses showed that income, angina pectoris status, attack rate, and percentage reduction in attack rate were all related to willingnes s to pay, in agreement with the authors' hypothesis.