OBJECTIVES:  This study determines the lifetime survival function, utility function and healthcare expenditure for 8 types of cancer, end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) stratified by gender and age in Taiwan, and provides data to estimate cost-per-QALY for comparison. METHODS:  A total of 335,918 pathologically verified cancer patients registered in the National Cancer Registry of Taiwan during 1998-2007, and 125,277 ESRD patients and 39, 455 RA patients registered under “catastrophic illnesses” were included. All of them were followed until the end of 2010 to obtain the survival function, which were further extrapolated to lifetime based on a semi-parametric method using the age- and sex-matched referents simulated from the life tables of the National Vital Statistics of Taiwan. The survival functions were adjusted using an EQ-5D utility value derived from a convenience sample of 8,421 patients to estimate quality-adjusted life expectancies (QALE). The monthly healthcare expenditures attributable to different cancers, ESRD and RA were collected from the reimbursement database of the National Health Insurance (NHI). These values were multiplied by the corresponding survival probabilities to calculate the lifetime healthcare expenditure after adjusting consumer price indices for different calendar year up to 2010 and assumed a 3% discount rate later on. RESULTS:  ESRD had the highest life-time healthcare expenditure and cost-per-QALY, followed by RA and cancers, which is 16,933 to 17,851 U.S. dollars (USD) of cost-per QALY, or about one GDP (gross domestic products) of Taiwan. Of the 8 different cancers studied, the lung cancer, esophagus cancer and liver cancer had the highest cost-per-QALY. There appears a trend of shorter life expectancy or QALY associated with higher cost-per-QALY. CONCLUSIONS:  Such estimates of cost-effectiveness are an essential part on the consideration to accommodate new health technology in cancer and other chronic diseases control, including prevention.