Arc of Prosperity

Scottish Independence within the EU – with a Scandinavian Slant

health

Healthy life expectancy

Lou & Andy hanging by the OTB in Whitechapel
Lou & Andy hanging by the OTB in Whitechapel, a photo by TheeErin on Flickr.
There was an interesting article in The Guardian about healthy life expectancy a couple of days ago:

People in the UK enjoy fewer years of good health before they die than the citizens of most comparable European countries as well as Australia and Canada. […] In the UK, we can expect 68.6 healthy years of life.

These 68.6 healthy years have to be compared to the fact that the state pension age in the UK is planned to rise to 68 years by 2046.

Because these figures are averages, the implication is that there will be a large group of people who will start to suffer from ill health years before they can retire.

What are we going to do about these people? Do we expect 67-year-olds with arthritis or dementia to be stacking the shelves in Asda? Will the government make it easier to get invalidity benefits if you’re at least 60 years old and chronically ill?

I would definitely trust the Scottish Government more to come up with a humane solution than Westminster.

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