Human values Plainpicture/OJO/Martin Barraud
A CYNIC, said Oscar Wilde, is somebody who “knows the price of everything but the value of nothing”. If so, then some of the most cynical people on Earth are those who have to make life-and-death decisions about road safety, medical treatment and health and safety legislation. In order to make those calls, they first need some measure of the monetary worth of a human life.
That does seem a dreadfully cynical calculation, and it is unsettling to think that some faceless bureaucrat somewhere is putting a price on your head. But in reality, it cannot be any other way. If we were to embrace the idea that life has immeasurable value, then there would be no ceiling on how much we would be prepared to spend to reduce the chance of dying, even by an infinitesimal amount. That may seem morally right, but it is economic madness.
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Long read: What are you worth? How we calculate the value of a life
Each life is equally valuable. Until it’s not. From the cost of saving your life to your worth once you’re gone, there’s a price on all our heads
Take the US healthcare system, where the cost of treatment is often not considered. That has contributed to rampant inflation; the US now spends a fifth of its GDP on healthcare.
Contrast that with the UK, where healthcare is a public good that must be distributed fairly with cost considered. This makes a difference: basic health outcomes, such as the number of preventable deaths, are far better in the UK.
The people who make those calls on behalf of the NHS often find themselves facing bad publicity. The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is frequently criticised for, say, refusing to pay for an expensive new cancer drug.
In reality, NICE’s methods are fair and equitable. The world should embrace its formulas, not criticise them. In realms outside of healthcare, the value of a life is all over the map, often decided on a whim or according to highly subjective criteria. We should set aside our squeamishness about putting a price on a life – and also any romantic notion that to even ask that question is morally repugnant – and start to do so openly and fairly. Cynicism is sometimes the fairest way.
This article appeared in print under the headline “Put a price on your head”
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