How Much is Too Much?

As Congress seeks solutions to address drug prices, there has been some discussion about allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Negotiation is a strategy that some foreign governments have used to control their healthcare costs. The drug price negotiation that occurs in other countries like Canada and the U.K. relies on a calculation called quality-adjusted life year (QALY) to determine a price limit on treatments and therapies. QALY is a measure that assigns a financial value to the patients for whom a given treatment is prescribed. The more severe a patient’s illness or disability, the lower the financial value assigned. You read that correctly: QALY determines the financial value of a life.

It’s not surprising that the National Council on Disability (an independent federal agency) found that use of QALY “devalues the lives of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses.” The American Association of People with Disabilities just called on Congress and the Administration to reject QALY policies “that discriminate against people with disabilities and chronic conditions, older adults, and reinforce health inequities.” Importing QALY calculations to the U.S. must be unconditionally prohibited.

Every. Life. Is. Valuable. When a government bureaucrat driven by cost containment goals, instead of a patient’s own physician, makes treatment decisions, patients suffer. Patients and Providers United amplifies the voices that seek to keep patients, providers and evidence-based treatment guidelines – not bureaucratic middlemen – at the center of medical decision making.