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In 1900, a just-born American's life expectancy was 47.3 years. Today it exceeds 76 years. We have eradicated such scourges as polio and smallpox, and doctors routinely prescribe drugs to fight bacterial infections and mental illness. Novel procedures treat cancer and heart patients, while genetic engineering promises more new avenues for medicine.  America spends more on health care—13.5% of gross domestic product—than any other advanced nation. No question, inefficiency and sometimes fraud inflate that
spending. But it's the profusion of new technologies and the ability to sustain life among the elderly that drive spending. The ethicists rightly debate how these developments should be applied, and there is much yet to be done—to advance treatment for AIDS and cancer patients, to improve the environment, to provide health care to the uninsured. The innovations of the 20th century have not diminished the need for innovations in the 21st.
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