Determinants of willingness to pay taxes for a community-based prevention programme

• Published in: Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine
• Main Authors: Lindholm, Lars A., Rosén, Måns E., Stenbeck, Magnus E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1997
• Subjects: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/140349489702500210; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/140349489702500210

Prevention can reduce the risk of disease, but has other consequences as well. Willingness-to-pay (WTP) is one method to analyse these multi-dimensional consequences, if the stated WTP is assumed to be a function of all the expected positive and negative effects perceived. An interview study of a community-based cardiovascular disease prevention programme in northern Sweden shows that expectations regarding reduced mortality in the community and future savings in public health care spending increase the perceived value of the programme. Among personal benefits, decreased disease risk was not positively associated with WTP, while a low level of anxiety was.