Christopher Beam’s recent news article on qalys includes this amazing quote:
QALYs also assume that a year lived by an 80-year-old is worth less than one lived by a 20-year-old. But that’s not accurate, says Dana Goldman of the RAND Corp. “It’s not taking into account hope, not taking into account the chance of living to see your daughter’s wedding, it’s not getting at the extra value we put on the end of life.” Yes, the U.S. health care system has to rein in costs, says Goldman, but “QALY is not ready for prime time.”
Maybe this guy is being taken out of context, but . . . “the chance of living to see your daughter’s wedding”??? There’s always individual variation; that doesn’t mean you can’t try to capture averages.
One would have to assume grandchild or great grandchild though at the rate the elderly are now having children this may soon become the case.
Going to Dana Goldman's general point, as opposed to (possibly mis-stated) specific example, perhaps on average 80-year olds are happier than 20-year olds:
link