You assume he would have been a burden on the healthcare system. He could have been like my uncle Jim who lived unassisted to age 93 and then died in his sleep. If he was really super conscientious about the amount of resources he consumed he could have simply opted to not go to the hospital.
I take offense, in an age when simply taking offense is considered anachronistic, because he stereotyped aged people as being useless.
Some of the most amazing and influential people in my life were elderly. They often have a perspective seldom seen by the twenty somethings and other rats caught in the race for more stuff. Getting old is scary, it's probably the scariest thing anyone with a sane mind can do. Yet, being able to speak to the newest and youngest generation, and thereby bridge a gap that would otherwise be left open, is so utterly important for the longevity of our society and our species that it is something everyone, fortunate enough to live that long, should endeavour to do.
Reducing the elderly to a fiscal liability and a potential for discomfort is over simplifying and dehumanizing the situation. Just because our society treats the elderly as an unwanted burden does not make them such. The fact that he could not see this speaks to how narrow his focus was.
