Gods with a limited budget: putting the utility back into utilitarian health politics

Abstract

Resources in healthcare are under strain not only because of increasingly expensive treatment options, but because the definition of health is evolving. For the purpose of resource allocation, definitional boundaries of health are arbitrary and unhelpful. Since biological health combines with mental and societal health to constitute overall quality of life, this very quality ought to inform resource allocation in all relevant areas of public spending. Adopting quality of life as a common objective will require some structural recognition. Integrating the debates surrounding social health and evidence based policy, we argue for the establishment of a common 'currency' that could be used to compare different quality of life measures across disciplines and policy spheres.