But even much more modest progress--extending healthy middle age from 60 to, say, 80--would permit significant shifts in retirement ages and allow for a longevity dividend that could go a long way toward preventing the looming pension meltdown. Greater progress might make the problem go away entirely. So perhaps it would make sense to steer some of the federal money currently going to research on treating the diseases of old age--an approach that leads to older, but frailer, people who are a drain on public resources and whose quality of life is iffy--to research on slowing or reversing the damage that aging does, leading to healthier old people who can work (and pay taxes) longer, while feeling better and enjoying life more.
Makes sense to me, but I imagine the politics of such a change to be pretty tough.
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