Life Expectancy: Pensions, Health and Insurance Debate

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Department: Department of Health and Social Care

Life Expectancy: Pensions, Health and Insurance

Lord Patel Excerpts
Wednesday 26th April 2023

(1 year ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Markham Portrait Lord Markham (Con)
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As ever, there are multiple factors at play. That is what the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is all about: making sure that we are tackling this in exactly the holistic way the noble Lord mentioned, going back to all the major conditions that are causes of death and tackling each one by one. The 10 million cancer screenings save 10,000 lives a year, and our breast cancer screenings save 1,300 lives. There is a lot to do but a lot that we are doing already.

Lord Patel Portrait Lord Patel (CB)
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My Lords, in his introductory remarks, the Minister quoted the Government’s ambition to extend healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035. Can he put some numbers to it? What age are we talking about?

Lord Markham Portrait Lord Markham (Con)
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My understanding is that people are predicted to live a healthy life until around age 63. It is about looking at that aspect as well; it is not just about the length of life but how well we live it.