Abstract

With great fanfare, the first baby boomer turned 65 on January 1, 2011, ushering in the new, gray society. We—I'm one of the 76 million baby boomers—were expected to transform aging: better educated, healthier, reared in an era of unprecedented prosperity, committed to individual autonomy, we would singlehandedly turn retirement from a time of decline, disability, and despair into a period of travel, adventure, and personal growth. If we did become ill, despite regular exercise, a wholesome diet, and a goodly dose of vitamins, we would demand, and receive, the fruits of American technological ingenuity, vanquishing disease and perhaps even death. Concurrent with the designation of age 70 as "the new 40," we have...