One Hundred? I Don't Think So
There's a report out that polled a bunch of people asking them if they'd like to live to be a hundred years old. Eight percent of those polled said yes - count me among the other 92%.
And not that I don't enjoy living from time-to-time. There would be a great number of benefits to living such a long life, like seeing my kids live their entire lives, and watching the Yankees run their World Series wins up to about 40, and listening to Bruce for 50 + more years, and eating and drinking and hanging out.
Yet looking at my body now and adding another 56 years on it - uh...no. It won't work - how bald and fat can I get? And the back isn't going to be feeling any better by that point, right?
Yet the discussion didn't center around reaching the age of 100 just so that we can all think about crapping our pants again and letting the kids change us - it was a serious discussion about the cost of health care.
We're living longer - we want to treat illnesses aggressively whether it be for ourselves or a loved one - and with the advancements in medicine and the fact that a lot of the population is going to be old by the year 2020 - we may have a real problem on our hands.
First of all, we all would like to retire by 64 - or 67 at the latest - which, if everyone got to the century mark - would allow us about 35 years of being unproductive and just looking for a handout - as well as great medical coverage. Simple math - doesn't work.
Yet what do we do? The radio personality that I was listening to was talking about universal health care but with a cap - and that when you reached the limit, you couldn't get treated anymore. Not an easy decision, huh? How'd you like to get to a hospital and have a doctor explain to you that he only did half the heart procedure because your account ran out of money.
The health care issue is not going to be easily solved - many have tried and wound up shrugging their shoulders. In the meantime, it's become a certified mess.
100 years old? Well it might sound attractive if I was 99 and a half, but it seems a little scary at this point.
And not that I don't enjoy living from time-to-time. There would be a great number of benefits to living such a long life, like seeing my kids live their entire lives, and watching the Yankees run their World Series wins up to about 40, and listening to Bruce for 50 + more years, and eating and drinking and hanging out.
Yet looking at my body now and adding another 56 years on it - uh...no. It won't work - how bald and fat can I get? And the back isn't going to be feeling any better by that point, right?
Yet the discussion didn't center around reaching the age of 100 just so that we can all think about crapping our pants again and letting the kids change us - it was a serious discussion about the cost of health care.
We're living longer - we want to treat illnesses aggressively whether it be for ourselves or a loved one - and with the advancements in medicine and the fact that a lot of the population is going to be old by the year 2020 - we may have a real problem on our hands.
First of all, we all would like to retire by 64 - or 67 at the latest - which, if everyone got to the century mark - would allow us about 35 years of being unproductive and just looking for a handout - as well as great medical coverage. Simple math - doesn't work.
Yet what do we do? The radio personality that I was listening to was talking about universal health care but with a cap - and that when you reached the limit, you couldn't get treated anymore. Not an easy decision, huh? How'd you like to get to a hospital and have a doctor explain to you that he only did half the heart procedure because your account ran out of money.
The health care issue is not going to be easily solved - many have tried and wound up shrugging their shoulders. In the meantime, it's become a certified mess.
100 years old? Well it might sound attractive if I was 99 and a half, but it seems a little scary at this point.
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