New Video: Discriminatory Metrics Have No Place in Healthcare

evLYG and QALY policies reduce access to care and discriminate against older adults and individuals living with disabilities

Washington, D.C. (October 31, 2023) – The Alliance for Aging Research today released a new educational video warning against discriminatory drug pricing metrics promoted by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER).

The video – ICER’s Value Assessments Harm Access for Protected Populations – What You Need to Know – focuses on the Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) and the Equal Value Life Years Gained (evLYG, or evLY), two drug pricing metrics that have been found to place more value on treatments for younger, healthier patients, while limiting access to care for older or disabled patients.

“There is no place in our healthcare system for outdated metrics that blatantly value some lives over others,” said Alliance for Aging Research Public Policy Manager, Adina Lasser. ”Metrics like QALY and evLYG are nothing more than mechanisms to discriminate against those who need access to care the most. The Alliance will continue the fight to ensure that QALY and evLYG are banned from all federal healthcare programs so that patients may receive the access to care and treatment that they deserve. People need to be aware that this is going on and impacting their medical care.” 

ICER has promoted both the QALY and evLYG as mechanisms for drug pricing in federal programs, including Medicare. If adopted, these metrics would limit access to care for the elderly, chronically ill, and disabled – the very population that Medicare is meant to serve.

The Alliance for Aging Research has been a leading voice against the QALY, evLYG, and other discriminatory metrics in drug pricing. To learn more about ICER and how it promotes discriminatory drug pricing through the QALY and evLYG mechanisms, visit IcerFacts.org.

The Alliance for Aging Research is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries and their application to vastly improve the universal human experience of aging and health. The Alliance believes advances in research help people live longer, happier, more productive lives and reduce healthcare costs over the long term. For more than 30 years, the Alliance has guided efforts to substantially increase funding and focus for aging at the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration; built influential coalitions to guide groundbreaking regulatory improvements for age-related diseases; and created award-winning, high-impact educational materials to improve the health and well-being of older adults and their family caregivers. Learn more about the Alliance at www.agingresearch.org.

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To interview Alliance for Aging Research Public Policy Manager Adina Lasser, or another Alliance staff member on this issue, please contact Katie Riley, Vice President of Communications, at [email protected].