ALLOCATING RESOURCES TO HEALTH-CARE - IS THE QALY (QUALITY ADJUSTED LIFE YEAR) A TECHNICAL SOLUTION TO A POLITICAL PROBLEM

The allocation of health care resources has always been and will remain a contentious issue. Classically, the arguments have been posed in terms of the ''need'' for health care and/or the ''right'' to treatment. More recently, there have been attempts to shape the debate in consequentialist terms, by introducing a composite outcome measure. In the United Kingdom, the QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Year) has been promoted enthusiastically. But, like many other such proposals, it is a dodo, and one that is potentially politically dangerous.