Letter

Payment to look after health

Incentive mechanisms require deeper understanding

BMJ 2008; 337 doi: 10.1136/bmj.a1135 (Published 6 August 2008)
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1135

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

  1. Richard E Ashcroft, professor of bioethics1,
  2. Theresa M Marteau, professor of health psychology2,
  3. Adam Oliver, RCUK senior academic fellow in health economics and policy3
  1. 1Queen Mary, University of London, School of Law, London E1 4NS
  2. 2Psychology Department, Health Psychology Section, Guy’s Campus, London SE1 9RT
  3. 3LSE Health, London School of Economics, London WC2A 2AE

    Cookson and Popay make some important points about the merits and problems of using cash incentives to change health behaviour in disadvantaged populations.1 2

    Cookson makes three moral arguments and one prudential argument. Firstly, cash incentives provide an inducement to recipients to change their behaviour to lessen harm to third parties. We could go further and consider direct coercion, for instance, through criminal sanctions. …

    Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment

    Subscribe

    Article access

    Article access for 1 day

    Purchase this article for £20 $30 €32*

    The PDF version can be downloaded as your personal record

    * Prices do not include VAT

    Rapid responses

    THIS WEEK'S POLL

    BMJ most popular