Longevity is a hidden key in the debt ceiling debate

 The biggest reason the national debt is on track to become unsustainable is the growth in unfunded spending on Medicare and Social Security.

The reason we have Medicare and Social Security in the first place is that people’s bodies age as they get older, to the point where they can no longer get a good job or affordable private health insurance, so they need Medicare and Social Security as a last resort to stay alive with dignity. Medicare is health insurance of last resort, because private health insurance companies expect that you’re going to need so much medical attention in old age that they would need to charge a massive monthly premium—more than most old people can afford. And Social Security is a payment to live of last resort, under the assumption that employers discriminate so much against old people, or old people become so incapable of working, that payments from the government are the only fair alternative. Achieving breakthroughs in longevity science is a hidden key to solving the debt ceiling debate. It has been proven that it is possible to reverse one’s biological age. If the U.S. government invests sufficiently in finding proven ways to reverse one’s biological age or stop the aging process, and if it reforms FDA regulations sufficiently so that it becomes easier to experiment to find ways to reverse aging, then there would be no issues with raising the retirement age for Medicare and Social Security, reducing their budget burden. It's awful that we let everyone die before age 120 without doing more to stop it. If the Biden administration and Congress make finding scientific breakthroughs in longevity a requirement for reducing the national debt, we will all be better off.