Willingness to pay for ovulation induction treatment in case of WHO II anovulation: a study using the contingent valuation method

Abstract

Thomas G Poder,1 Jie He,2 Catherine Simard,3 Jean-Charles Pasquier4 1UETMIS and CRCHUS, CHUS, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada; 2Department of Economics, GREDI, University of Sherbrooke, QC, Canada; 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, CH of Chicoutimi, affiliated to CHUS, QC, Canada; 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, CHUS, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada Objective: To measure the willingness to pay (WTP) of women aged 18–45 years to receive drug treatment for ovulation induction (ie, the social value of normal cycles of ovulation for a woman of childbearing age) in order to feed the debate about the funding of fertility cares.Setting: An anonymous questionnaire was used over the general population of Quebec. Participants: A total of 136 subjects were recruited in three medical clinics, and 191 subjects through an online questionnaire.Method: The questionnaire consisted of three parts: introduction to the problematic, socioeconomic data collection to determine factors influencing the formation of WTP, and a WTP question using the simple bid price dichotomous choice elicitation technique. The econometric estimation method is based on the “random utility theory.” Each subject responding to our questionnaire could express her uncertainty about the answer to our WTP question by choosing the answer “I do not know.”Outcome measure: The WTP in Canadian dollars of women aged 18–45 years to receive drug treatment for ovulation induction.Results: Results are positive and indicate an average WTP exceeding 4,800 CAD, which is much more than the drug treatment cost. There is no evidence of sample frame bias or avidity bias across the two survey modes that cannot be controlled in econometric estimates.Conclusion: Medical treatment for ovulation induction is highly socially desirable in Quebec. Keywords: WTP, fertility, drug therapy