More and more Americans living past 90

America is getting older.

The Census Bureau reported Thursday that there are now nearly 2 million people in this country in their 90s -- three times as many as there were back in 1980. The number is projected to reach 9 million by 2050.

CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports that there are many implications for our aging population.

Sidney Kronish, 99, may move a little slowly these days, but this retired economics professor still has a lot to say.

"I still read. I study. I write. I talk, and people sometimes listen," Kronish said.

Better medical care accounts for much of the boom in those living over 90. Dr. Claudia Kawas has been studying this age group.

"Much of that extension has come at a cost. We've extended the quantity of life, but now we need to extend the quality of life," Kawas said.

Most of those who live into their nineties outlive their resources, with average income under $15,000 annually.

One fear in the coming decades is soaring medical costs. Currently, Alzheimer's affects 5.4 million people. By 2050, that may grow to 16 million. The cost will go from $183 billion in treatment to $1.1 trillion.

Arlene Richmond runs Kattay House, a senior living center. She says the 90-and-overs do best when they're fully engaged.

"Being part of a community changes their world. They have people who share their passions. They have a reason to get up in the morning. They continue to be the movers and shakers that they were," Richmond said.

Sidney Kronish has his own secret to a longer life: Family.

"I was born into a wonderful family. And my wife was special. As she put it, I chased her until she caught me," Kronish said.

Women make up three-quarters of this elderly population.

Currently, our healthcare system absolutely cannot cope with this population. Economists simply do not know where this extra money for handling the aging population will come from.

[alishiajane]

Why? Why are we paying for these people to be alive. This is what is draining the entitlement programs. Keeping seniors alive at any cost. Seniors who, by the way, paid barely anything into the Medicare system. There has to be a cap of some sort if the system is to succeed. How can any system expect to succeed if everyone gets anything they want just to stay alive in a vegetative state (I would define being in a nursing home with alzheimer's a vegetative state). And, after alzheimer's sets in no more healthcare (i.e. surgeries or "life saving" devices or treatments).

[magnumdr]

When a person lives past 90 does it matter if they are just living or are they living a real life? Many people tuck their elder Moms and Dads away in these "homes" and forget them. Go ahead and tell me that this is a quality way to live your life!

[magnumdr]

Dosent that sound great. Live until you are 90 but you have to be in a nursing home. What kind of life is that?. I would rather die before I had to go to a nursing home to spend the rest of my life having my diapers changed by a nurse! Give me liberty or give me death!

[Meinung]

That should read "More and more Americans VEGETATING past 90"
Whoever considers that "living" must be heavily medicated.

[amerilatino]

Live past 90?? Dear lord, WHATEVER IN THE WORLD FOR??? I wanna drive fast, break every church rule and be found dead, intoxicated in a motel room full of hysterical women in underwear, under morally unredeeming circumstances, with a wide-eyed, dirty grin on my face. You can't do that anywhere near 90.

[Silvermaran]

Oh please. The pop.s that are now living into the hundreds who need care are the rare. We know the avg. life expectancy is no more now than it was 60 yrs. ago. The long life experiance by the few are a result of those pop.s not getting so many infectious antigens in the fools name of protection. Now we watch the the real story unfold totally separate from those pop.s Autism now being diagnosed at one every 4 mins., MS now being diagnosed every 10 mins. along with all the other hundreds of stupid they came up with to profit from is what is going to overload the system. For the last 38yrs. they have lied about the cause and origin of the syndromes until they have us on the edge of no return when in fact they could have and should have all been treated to cure. There is no earthly reason why everyone should not be living into old age, but 65 is the avg. suffering or not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRQ-NhEkLXU&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/embed/ubSnxCr7kz8
Think how much more fruitful and happy we would have been if so many did not have to suffer in lies of protection and greed to hide the truth of prion synergy.

[magnumdr]

Thsi is my lifelong dream. To live to be 100 and live in a home for the elderly and have a nurse change my diapers every day. I would visit harry karry before I had to do this.

[Peloma]

this is going to get very expensive. these old people cost so much and the return is so small. we need to start burying them right now- dead or not.
even if still alive, they will perish in their coffins and we can start saving money!
glory to Peloma!

[amerilatino]

It's not all bad, we can always recycle them as cat food to recoup part of the costs after they die...