Willingness to pay for cancer prevention versus treatment in China: implications for cost-effectiveness threshold

ABSTRACT

Background

Empirical support for the appropriate cost-effectiveness threshold (CET) in China remains sparse.

Objective

This study aimed to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for cancer prevention and treatment from the perspective of healthcare policy-makers (i.e. supply side) and to investigate whether there is a difference between the estimated WTP in two scenarios.

Methods

We conducted a web-based survey from May to July 2022 among experts who offering consultation to the government. We surveyed 79 experts from a national think-tank (84.81% response rate) using contingent valuation method, a method for estimating the monetary value that individuals place on a non-market service.

Results

The mean WTP for two scenarios were estimated at 1.29 times of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of China and 1.90 times of per capita GDP, respectively. There was a difference between the WTP in the two scenarios and the WTP for treatment was significantly higher than prevention.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that though there is a smaller gap between the two scenarios in China as compared to other countries, the WTP may vary under different scenarios. So there’s a need to further refine the development of CET by adding parameters like prevention instead of defining one universal threshold.

KEYWORDS:

• Contingent valuation
• cost-effectiveness threshold
• prevention
• cancer
• treatment

Availability of data and material

Data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, H. Dong and Z. Zhao; methodology, Z. Zhao; investigation, W.Wu and Y. Yang; data curation, H. Dong; writing – original draft preparation, Z. Zhao; writing – review and editing, Z. Zhao and Y. Yang; supervision, H. Dong All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Scientific Research Foundation of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine [Grant No. 013038029001].