Strap Your Boots On

I know the dreams you came out of school with. Work hard providing care for needy people. Save the lives of children who would have been dead in a minute in the 1950s. Make sure that intended therapies are carried out because if not, the whole trip would be a waste of time. We were health professionals. We were going to make a big difference and we were going to make some money.

We had this idea that we could run in the fast race for 20 years and then start to idle back. We have a little house in Costa Rica. It is time to enjoy it. Coffee on the veranda, the Pacific in front of us, the sun warming our back. Miguel tending the flowers. Lolita making breakfast. We worked our asses off for 20 years. We invested wisely for this. Vacations were rushed weekends. It is time to gather the fruits of our race track existence for two decades.

Wrong! Get this. 79 million baby boomers were born from 1946 through 1964. They will live decades longer than any generation before them. A 62 year old woman in 2008 has a 41% chance of reaching age 90. 29 of every 100 men will make it to 90. For a married couple, a 58% chance that one of them will live to age 95.

These people are not going to age gracefully and go out quietly. They are the generation that said NO to almost everything traditional. It started with long hair on boys and has not ended yet. As a group, they are well-educated, sophisticated, soulful and they have money. They are going to spend their money to remain vital, energetic and sexy for the whole ride.

They are going to be all over us. They are going to be knocking at the door and their expectations are going to be high. Some of us will develop specialties only for them. It will be harder for younger people to find access to care and THEY will be banging on our doo right behind the boomers.

It is starting already. Big Pharma can smell the fragrance of a money tree from years out. Viagra! Big Pharma will take huge resources away from developing drugs for the treatment or cure of illnesses and divert their energies to get as much of the we’re-going-to-stay-youthful-as-long-as-we-can-goddamit money as they can. It’s too bad. Everyone was altruistic in the 1960s.

So, you think you can relax after working hard for 20 years? Cut back your practice to part time and play a little tennis or golf? I don’t think so. You are rushed now. You work to the limit in 2008, can you imagine 2018 when there are even more of these people screaming for you to keep them young. Big Pharma will make it easy, but you still have to at least see these people.

Strap on your boots. You are gonna be wearing them for a long time.