Living Longer and Paying the Price?

Over the past century, there have been tremendous increases in longevity in the United States and most other developed countries. If these trends continue, the costs of paying for public programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will escalate at a startling rate with the aging of the "baby boomer" generation. A meeting titled "Living Longer and Paying the Price?" was organized to consider whether current trends in longevity will continue at the current pace, accelerate, or decelerate as a result of public health problems such as obesity and infectious diseases. Further, speakers presented their views on covering the costs of public and private programs for future generations of older adults.