The first step in reaching the QALY is to add up all the additional years of life that result from adopting a policy annual mammograms, say, or driver's-side air bags. But longer life expectancy, though important, is not the whole story. Surgery that frees you from chronic pain, or allows you to walk again, is valuable to you even if it does nothing directly to prolong your life. Whatever the limitations of this measure, it does allow comparisons of very dissimilar policies. The center's research focuses on medical technology, motor vehicles, environmental science and food safety.
Medical comparisons are even more striking.
Again, that's per year of extra life. And even if I had to pay for the exams myself, I wouldn't mind at all if they came up negative every time. But the choices that individuals would make for themselves are not necessarily the best choices for the society as a whole. Because President Bush has nominated him to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget, possibly the best spot in the whole of the federal government for injecting some sanity in rule-writing run amok. But a full and fair disclosure of what the true costs and benefits are something the EPA has not been known for in recent years would at least ensure an informed public debate.