Contingent Valuation of Supplemental Health Care in Israel

Abstract

The use of the contingent-valuation method for determining willingness to pay for non-market or currently available health care services continues to be experimental. In this study, the contingent-valuation method was used to calculate willingness-to-pay estimates for a pro posed change in the Israeli health care system. It was found that the willingness-to-pay estimates calculated in the Israel study were reasonable and that the methodology is able to adapt to the special nature of the health care commodity while adhering to the conditions for reliability and validity in a contingent-valuation study. Key words: Contingent-valuation method; willingness to pay for health care; Israeli medical care system. (Med Decis Making 1993;13:302-310)