Fair tests of health-care policies and treatments: a request for help from readers.

a Norwegian Knowledge Centre for Health Services, Oslo, Norway. b James Lind Library, Oxford, England. Correspondence to Andrew D Oxman (e-mail: [email protected]). Health-care policies impact on peoples’ lives. For example, a policy decision not to have publicly funded health insurance with universal coverage limits peoples’ choices to what they can afford. Those who make policy decisions are ethically and politically bound to make decisions that are in the interests of the people whom they serve. Evaluating the effects of policies is important because this is the only way of knowing the extent to which policies are doing more good than harm. We would appreciate assistance from Bulletin readers to address the question: what is a fair test of a healthcare policy? There are three ways in which you can help us: