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Assessing willingness to pay for cancer prevention

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Abstract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. and its economic cost is very high. The objective of this study is to analyze the socioeconomic and demographic factors that are related to the willingness to pay (WTP) for cancer prevention. Data from an experimental module in the 2002 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were used to identify WTP differences across different population subgroups. Respondents were asked whether they were willing and able to pay different dollar amounts per month for a new cancer prevention drug. Years of age were negatively related to WTP whereas income and the probability of develo** cancer were positively related to WTP. Risk-relevant numeracy skills were positively related to self-assessed cancer risk, which may suggest that adults with poor numeracy skills underestimate their cancer risk. This has consequences not only on the relative perceived value of different cancer treatments across different population subgroups but also on perceived value as captured by WTP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of New Mexico, 1915 Roma NE, MSC05 3060, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Michael A. Milligan & Alok K. Bohara

  2. Department of Global Studies, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan Metropolitan City, 609-735, South Korea

    Michael A. Milligan

  3. Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX, 76107-2699, USA

    José A. Pagán

  4. Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    José A. Pagán

Authors
  1. Michael A. Milligan
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  2. Alok K. Bohara
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  3. José A. Pagán
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Correspondence to Michael A. Milligan.

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Milligan, M.A., Bohara, A.K. & Pagán, J.A. Assessing willingness to pay for cancer prevention. Int J Health Care Finance Econ 10, 301–314 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-010-9082-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10754-010-9082-2

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