[quote=SK in CV][quote=davelj]90% of this number is related to Social Security and Medicare. Raise the age at which Social Security and Medicare can be received to 70 – and keep raising it as life expectancy increases – and this fiscal gap largely disappears. Easy to accomplish in theory, but politically difficult. Average life expectancy is 13 years greater than it was in 1935 when Social Security was enacted. And yet the age at which benefits can be received has stayed the same. The solution isn’t that complicated, but it requires political backbone, which is in short supply.[/quote]
The fallacy of increased life expectancy.
[quote]Between 1920 and today, US infant mortality has decreased from more than 100 per 1000 to 10.9 per 1000. Yet during this same time span, life expectancy is said to have increased from 50 to roughly 80 years. That’s a thirty year difference we are told to swallow.
Now consider this: According to statistics, when an adult in 1920 turned 60 years old, he could expect to live an average of 16 more years, to about 76. Today, a 60 year old adult can expect to live 20 more years, to about 80.
So instead of a 30 year increase, we are looking at a mere four-year difference in life expectancy. The only dramatic change in the last eighty six years has been our chance of surviving to 60.[/quote]
My family has a large Mormon population, so our family history is well documented and pretty extensive. A number of years ago, I decided to track the life expectancy of my ancestors going back many generations. This is just anecdotal, but I found that for those who made it through infancy and childhood, child bearing (a surprising number of deaths from pregnancy/childbirth, BTW), and the years during which people did a lot of physical work on the farms, etc., my relatives actually lived longer 100+ years ago relative to the last generation or two. We had a number of people who lived well into their late 80s, 90s, and even their hundreds, and almost none of them (except one branch) do so now. My husband’s family also shows the same trend (though the historical records are not as extensive).
From what I’ve found, it looks like antibiotics are the primary reason for the increased life expectancy, and in a related note, fewer fetal and maternal deaths (many of which resulted from infections, it appears). Also, workplace safety plays a significant role in the significant reduction in worker deaths.
