OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate whether broadening the evaluative space in an economic evaluation would lead to other outcomes, and hence policy recommendations. METHODS: Two discrete choice experiments (DCE) were conducted in a population of patients who had been treated for varicose vein disease (N=390) either by foam sclerotherapy or surgical stripping. In the Health DCE the treatments were described in terms of health outcomes attributes only (based on the EQ5D dimensions). In the Extended DCE the treatments were described in terms of the same health outcomes attributes and other aspects (Waiting time, Probability of retreatment and Nature of treatment). The differences in the levels were collected in a clinical trial and entered into the preference models to calculate the differnce in utility between those treatments. The ΔU in both models was standardised on a [-1,1] scale.  The incremental costs of foamsclerotherapy versus surgical stripping, as observed in the clinical trial, amounted to -€1123. RESULTS: All attributes were statistically significant, except for Waiting time and Probability of retreatment. The relative importances and the ranks of the health attributes differed between the models. The patients preferred surgical treatment if only health outcomes were considered, while the patients preferred dermatological treatment if also aspects beyond health outcomes were considered in the choice: ΔUhealth=-0.0109; ΔUextended=0.3971. When incremental utility was based on health outcomes only alone, the incremental cost-utility ratio was €103,027. When incremental utility was based broader outcomes, the incremental utility ratio indicated dominance. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that recommendation for policy would changed if not only health outcomes but also broader outcomes are considered. The results confirm  that a restriction to health outcomes in the (economic) evaluation of health care leads to the maximization of health, but not necessarily to the maximization of benefit in a broader sense.