Citation

Graham J, Hu J. Health Aff. (Hope) 2007; 26(3): 625-635.

Affiliation

Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School, Santa Monica, California, USA. john_graham@prgs.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation)

DOI

10.1377/hlthaff.26.3.625

PMID

17485737

Abstract

A health policy decision often requires a balancing of risks, costs, and benefits. In this paper we illustrate that there is no uniform answer in the United States to the question of who decides the risk-benefit balance. We use a wide range of case examples from medicine and public health to show the different approaches that are used to allocate decision-making responsibility. Our ultimate purpose is to urge the U.S. health policy community to develop a more consistent way of thinking about how risk-benefit decisions could be guided by general principles.

Language: en