Americans are Oddly Inconsistent About Aging

New survey finds most people want to live longer – but don’t want government help to do it

Americans want to live longer, but are split on whether government should make public health a priority.

A new study by the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives finds that 70% of Americans believe human lifespan should continue to increase if advancements in medicine and technology make it possible. About 83% of the survey’s respondents said they would want to live 80 or more years as long as they were healthy – and 50% said they would want to live 90 or more years.

But the surprise comes from the fact that just 50% of respondents said the government should prioritize medical research to treat aging. And just 23% of survey respondents said improving the health of citizens should be the government’s top priority.

Whether or not government should prioritize research to enable healthy aging, the survey findings clearly show that individuals cannot ease up on private-sector efforts to lengthen our lives.

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