How much is a human life really worth? EPA lowers figure used to weigh cost of fighting pollution
BY DAVID A. FAHRENTHOLD The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Someplace else, people might tell you that human life is priceless. In Washington, the federal government has appraised it like a ’96 Camaro with bad brakes. Last week, it was revealed that an Environmental Protection Agency office had lowered its official estimate of life’s value, from about $8.04 million to about $7.22 million. That decision has put a spotlight on the concept of the “Value of a Statistical Life,” in which the Washington bureaucracy takes on a question usually left to preachers and poets. This value is routinely calculated by several agencies, each putting its own dollar figure on the worth of life — not any particular person’s life, just that of a generic American. The figure is then used to judge whether potentially lifesaving policy measures are really worth the cost. A human life, based on an economic analysis grounded in observations of everyday Americans, typically turns out to be worth $5 million to $8 million — about as much as a mega-mansion or a middle infielder. Now, for the first time, the EPA has used this little-known process to devalue life, something that environmentalists say could set a scary precedent, making it seem that lifesaving pollution reductions are not worth the cost. “By reducing the value of human life, which is really a devious way of cooking the books, the perceived benefits of cleaning up the air seem less,” said Frank O’Donnell of the Washingtonbased group Clean Air Watch. “That has the effect of weakening the case for pollution cleanup.” To grasp the mind-bending concept of a Blue Book value on life, government officials say it is important to remember that they are not thinking about anyone specifi c. That happens in lawsuits, when plaintiffs seek to be compensated for a life lost — and there, it can involve personal factors such as the deceased’s lost income. Here, officials say, they are trying instead to come up with the value of a typical life, without any personal information attached. They might know, for instance, that a new cut in air pollution will save 50 lives a year, though they don’t know who those people might be. Still, they want to decide whether saving them is worth the cost, officials say, and it helps to assign a dollar value to each life saved. But how do you put a dollar value on a life, even in a generic sense? It wouldn’t work for researchers to survey Americans at gunpoint and ask how much they would pay not to die. Instead, an unlikely academic field has grown up to extrapolate life’s value from the everyday decisions of average Americans. Researchers try to figure out how much money it takes for people to accept slightly bigger risks, such as a more dangerous job. They also look at how much people will pay to make their daily risks smaller, such as buying a bike helmet or a safer car. “How much are you willing to pay for a small reduction ... in the probability that you will die?” asked Joe Aldy, a fellow at the Washington-based think tank Resources for the Future. The rest is more or less multiplication: If someone will accept a 1 in 10,000 chance of death for $500, then the value of life must be 10,000 times $500, or $5 million. But it is one thing to calculate the numbers and another to explain them to the public. The EPA has been fighting that battle since last week, when the Associated Press revealed that the agency’s air office had reduced its Value of a Statistical Life. Al McGartland, the director of the agency’s National Center for Environmental Economics, said the air office had revised the old figure in 2004 after new academic research showed that it was skewed too high. “It’s based on better methods,” McGartland said of the air offi ce’s assessment. He said the new number would increase over time, in part because of inflation. The EPA’s value for life remains one of the highest. Earlier this year, the Department of Transportation raised its value, but even after the increase, it stood at $5.8 million, more than a million dollars less than the EPA’s. Still, environmental activists said the decision made it more likely that the EPA’s regulations would allow greater air pollution because deaths triggered by the pollution would seem to count for less. Experts say serious air pollution can make heart and lung conditions worse, sometimes resulting in death.
AS OTHERS SAY IT Valuing human life for official purposes only
What’s the value of a human life? A human life is worth $6.9 million. To be more precise, that amount is the statistical value in today’s dollars, calculated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Making matters worse is that your value is decreasing. You are worth nearly $1 million less than your $7.8 million value five years ago. Before you start feeling seriously undervalued, keep in mind the assessment is for statistical purposes only. The government is not attempting to stimulate the economy by creating a new industry merchandising people. In addition to quality-of-life issues, federal agencies find quantifying life helps justify decisions. Bureaucrats then can weigh the cost of a proposed federal regulation against the lifesaving benefits. Placing a value on human life is not without precedent; insurance companies write life insurance policies for specific amounts and juries assess monetary damages in wrongful death judgments. But these are practical assessments, not solutions to an elusive puzzle. The value of a human life, like the depth and breadth of the cosmos, remains a mystery to ponder and celebrate. --News-Tribune, Jefferson City, Mo.
All they're doing is borrowing the same formula that the CDC, DHHS, and various state agencies (all states), have beenusing for years to "prioritize" who gets critical care needs in the event of a massive biological incident. This formula has been used for decades now, since the 1950's, to "scale" who gets prioritized treatment in the event of a national epidemic, or massive biological attack.
there is always a 'healthcare' crisis and folks are always triaged.....no matter what it still comes down to money......however, you would also think MD's, nurses and administrators dont get 'starry eyed' with media coverage and the rubbing of elbows in the public eye with the celebs etc.......
celebs/politicos/billionaires that 'promote' national heathcare because those other countries have it and it works are living in a wet paper bag......they get 'special treatment' because of their money and their knowability(they never let on about that).....they never see the bottom of waiting in line.....they avoid common American hospitals because of their own made popularity and then cry about personal privacy........SUCK IT UP BABIES.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Re July 26 As Others Say It, “Valuing human life for official purposes only”: The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that a human life is worth $6.9 million in today’s dollars. Based on that value, the 121,278 abortions performed in New York state in 2006 cost us $837 billion for that year. Our state loses every time a pre-born baby is tossed into the Dumpster or into the garbage disposal and down the sewer. If New York state, being quite adept at imposing taxes, could collect only 1 percent of the over $800 billion flushed down the drain per year, the governor’s entire deficit problems would be solved. WENDELL NEUGEBAUER Ballston Spa
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