ABSTRACT
Due to improvements in healthcare, the development of new drugs to combat life-threatening conditions common among the elderly such as hypertension and high cholesterol, and perhaps because of increased knowledge of the importance of exercise and good nutrition, life expectancy in the United States, as in most other countries, is increasing. The number of Americans aged 65 and over is expected to double by the year 2030; projections indicate that by that time there will be only 2.7 people between the ages of 20 and 64 for everyone over 65.1 Between 1970 and 2000, life expectancies at birth increased for both blacks and whites, by 6.9 and 4.5 years for white males and females, respectively, to 74.9 and 80.1 years. Corresponding increases for blacks were larger, 8.3 and 6.9 years, to 68.3 and 75.2 years, spans still significantly shorter than for whites. When the US Social Security retirement system was instituted in 1937,
one major objective was to provide incentives for older workers to retire so
that more jobs would be available for younger workers. At that time, life expectancies were considerably lower, and there were far more working-age adults than elderly. Now, however, continuation of current benefit levels has been presented as a major funding problem.2 In order to increase the ratio of workers who pay Social Security and Medicare taxes to the number of people receiving Social Security retirement income and Medicare benefits, or at least to reduce the rate of decline, public policy is turning toward encouraging people to delay retirement. Similar changes in attitude are apparent throughout the economy. In decades past, workers in the US were required by many employers to retire at a certain age, usually 65, and seldom later than 70. Today mandatory retirement ages are rare.
