By Ezra
Good piece in the Times about the growing demand for orthopedic surgeries among aging, athletic boomers. It suffers from a lack of statistics or hard data, but I'm willing to trust the central premise: Boomers are staying more active, longer, and given the long-term wear on the body, that's requiring more surgery. Another fun mover behind rising health costs. Two thoughts:
1) I wonder how much is saved through the benefits of exercise? Lower cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and cancer rates? How about increased productivity, time on the job, etc?
2) This is a good thing. If we end up plowing 50% of our country's massive GDP into surgeries and treatments that allows us to remain active, vital, and happy deep into our seventh, eight, and ninth decades, isn't that what money is for?
