不孕症治療之付費意願探討
Willingness to Pay for Infertility Treatment
中文摘要
本研究的目的是以付費意願法估計不孕症治療之付費意願金額，並分析影響其付 費意願金額的因素。此方法的特色為付費意願金額不僅包括了不孕症患者所耗用 的醫療費用等有形的成本，還包含了罹病的無形成本，如時間的花費、身體疼痛 及精神層面的壓力等，以及擁有一個小孩的價值。其次為採整體社會的觀點來分 析，也就是以一般民眾的角度進行外部利益評估，即幫助不孕症患者獲得醫療之 利他目的的價值評估。
研究結果共收有不孕症病患 173 人、病患家屬 91 人、一般民眾 194 人共 458 人，
研究結果發現訪問對象的不同對不孕症治療付費意願金額有顯著的差異，在自費 不孕症治療方面，以一般民眾的付費意願金額為最高，其次為病患本身，最低的 為病患家屬。預測出的付費意願金額為新台幣 712,274 元至新台幣 923,520 元之 間。
本研究的第二個議題為若將不孕症治療納入健保體系所願意增加健保保費之付 費意願金額，結果發現以病患為最高，其次為病患家屬，一般民眾為最低。
預測出的付費意願金額為新台幣 242 元至新台幣 249 元之間。
研究結果發現像不孕症這種間接成本在疾病成本中佔很大比例的疾病，可以利用 付費意願法進行經濟評估，在現今醫療資源有限，又必須強調醫療品質的時代，
醫療服務或處置都應先做好經濟評估，以求資源合理分配，並達到最大的效用。
英文摘要
The main purpose of this research is to estimate the value of infertility treatment. The contingent valuation (CV) method was used to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical treatment for infertility. The advantages of using WTP approach to assign value to health care intervention are of two folds. First, the WTP includes not only direct medical costs; but also includes invisible costs such as time costs, pains, and sufferings associated with being infertile and with infertility treatment itself. This research also attempts to quantify the external benefits of the general public on seeing couples with infertility problem can be treated via public health program.
There were 458 people participating in this interview during April 2006 to June 2006 in a medical university hospital in Taipei. Of the 458people, 173 are women seeking care at the infertility clinics, 91 were family members accompany patients to see the doctor, and the other 194 people were general public.
Our results showed that three were differences in the amount people would like to pay for the infertility treatment among the three types of participants. The estimated WTP
for the treatment by the general public is between NT. $712,274 and NT.
$923,520,witch is higher than the WTP of the patients and family member. Our results also inculcated that the WTP for insurance premiums to include infertility treatment in the National Health Insurance program by the general public is around NT. $242 and NT. $249 per month, witch is lower than the WTP by patients and family members.
This study showed that both patients and the general public were prepared to place a monetary value on the infertility treatment. The results also suggest that the
contingent valuation method is a useful tool in understanding how people value the benefit of infertility treatment.
