Politics

These days, politicians can often be heard expressing concern about the increasing costs placed on healthcare systems by aging populations. The implicit argument seems to be that because people are living longer, taxes will have to rise in order to pay for the resulting economic burden on society. A new study published in the Nature Aging journal looks at this challenge from a different angle, however. According to its authors, implementing treatments that target aging and extend healthy life expectancy could be worth trillions of dollars in economic gains. Published by researchers from the United Kingdom and the United States, the study examines scenarios involving slowing aging, the reversal of aging, longer health expectancy but shorter life expectancy, and longer life expectancy but worsening health. Based on a model they designed using economic, health, and demographic data from the United States, the researchers found that interventions addressing aging are likely to simultaneously increase health expectancy and life expectancy. Significantly, they show that a slowdown in aging that increases life expectancy by one year is worth $38 trillion. Increasing life expectancy by ten years would be worth $367 trillion. Ultimately, the researchers say, the more progress that is