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(c) 2010-2024 Jon L Gelman, All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

When Life Goes On, and On ...

The debate over a longer lifespan confronts many issued including medical costs, insurance coverage and quality of life. Workers' Compensation programs pay for lifetime care also in most instances. Today's post is shared from the NYTimes.org  .
To the Editor:
Re “On Dying After Your Time,” by Daniel Callahan (Sunday Review, Dec. 1): Mainstream aging research neither promises radical immortality nor seeks to keep old people sick longer. Aging is a driving factor in the most prevalent and costly chronic diseases. Research indicates that interventions slowing aging delay the onset of these diseases. Therefore, they extend not only life span but also health span, the disease-free and functional period of life.
Fundamentally, the goals of aging research are not dissimilar from efforts to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s or other chronic diseases in that they both seek to improve quality of life in the elderly. The difference is that interventions in aging may prevent not just one but a range of debilitating diseases simultaneously.
The reality is that the world is rapidly getting older. With baby boomers leaving the work force, there won’t be enough workers to pay the ever-increasing Medicare costs of the retired. Extending health span will lower Medicare costs and allow aging people to stay engaged.
Interventions that slow human aging will provide a powerful modality of preventive medicine: improving quality of life by keeping people...
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