Newt Gingrich: Aging Research Is Key to Balancing the Budget
Therapies targeting cellular aging to help Americans age healthier would unlock a “longevity dividend” – the result of lower health care spending on disease and higher economic productivity. Economist Dana Goldman estimates that every 2.2 years of healthy life added to the average American would generate $7.1 trillion in economic returns. This is a conservative estimate. Others such as Andrew Scott suggest the return could be as high as $38 trillion for just one added year. Investing in aging research to develop therapies to increase healthy longevity is also popular. A recent poll by the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives showed that strong majorities of Americans in both parties support research into treating the cellular aging process as a way to prevent chronic disease.