But now experts say there’s another benefit of health for seniors: wealth.
As reported recently in the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, the National Council on Aging (NCA) has found that seniors with poor health spend about three times as much of their income on medicine as compared to healthier seniors.
The numbers are dramatic: seniors on Medicare spend 14.7 per cent of their income on health care, but non-Medicare recipients spend only 4.9 per cent on health care-related expenses.
“The financial burden is highest for beneficiaries who are older, in relatively poor health, and have low or modest incomes,” Ken Schwartz from the NCA told the newspaper.
So how can seniors stay healthy to not only live longer, but to stay wealthier too?
Ninety-five year-old Ruth Clark of John Knox Village, an assisted living community in Pompano Beach, Florida, does daily stretches and bends to help ward off Arthritis, and she lifts weights to keep her strength and flexibility, as reported by the Sun-Sentinel.
Clark also quit smoking more than fifty years ago, avoids sweets and tries to regularly eat fruits and vegetables.