Robert Simons (Letters, June 23) draws attention to the way in which statistics on healthy life expectancy can be misused. But there is a more basic question of how far we should focus on healthy life expectancy at all.
A focus on healthy life expectancy carries the implication that life in anything except good health is not worth living. Might it not be better to develop a measure of health-adjusted life expectancy which gives a weight of 1 to years spent in good health and, say, ¾ to years spent in less than good health. Obviously less than good health covers a wide spectrum and research would be needed to determine the appropriate weight. But it is most unlikely to be zero as a focus on healthy life expectancy suggests.
Martin Weale
Professor of Economics, King’s College,
London WC2B, UK
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