Which is the best way to spend public money: by developing treatments for dementia and cancer or on counselling for couples at breaking point?
It is a comparison that has been drawn after health secretary Andy Burnham announced that the NHS would offer couples counselling to maintain their relationships.
The comparison, of course, is fatuous. Of course cancer treatments should be developed; of course research into dementia should be upped.
The truth is that there will always be "a more deserving cause". And if we had the choice of NHS spending on only one of cancer treatment or dementia research, where should the money go? Your choice.
We are talking, as usual, about money and increasingly scant resources. So let us factor in the costs of family breakdown, in this case social costs which, more than likely, will be picked up ultimately by the state.
The UK has a poor record on preserving the family unit, with absent fathers a growing problem.
The social effects that are attributed to this, particularly among teenage boys, include gang activity and knife crime. Associated with these are educational underachievement, a swathe of poorly qualified school leavers and perhaps longstanding emotional issues.
We are told that the cycle is prone to repeat itself with the next generation. To hell in a handbasket, in other words.
So if relationships can be saved, isn't Andy Burnham's idea a sound one?
NHS counselling would be free at the point of delivery, as opposed to the £50 an hour that the private sector can command - a rate that is well out of reach of lower income groups.
Moreover, detail may emerge during those sessions that would be best handled by a mental health professional and a referral could be made.
It is then that it becomes a prima facie medical issue and can be treated as such. It is a controversial move by Andy Burnham but is one worth exploring.
Many people visit their doctors with depressive illness, For this they may have counselling and medication. They may take time off work sick. Simple marriage counselling is not what the NHS is for, but work with couples may be extremely good treatment.