In the New York Times’s “New Old Age” blog on November 13, an essay by Dan Callahan, cofounder of The Hastings Center, puts forth his view that health care should be rationed for the elderly as a way to keep Medicare solvent. The entry has elicited more than 100 provocative comments. Callahan was invited to write the essay by Jane Gross, creator of the popular daily blog, following her visit to the Center to meet with scholars.

“Here’s how I got into trouble,” Callahan begins his essay. He recounts the publication of his book, Setting Limits: Medical Goals in an Aging Society, 20 years ago in which he proposed age 80 as a cutoff point for the most expensive technologies such as open-heart surgery, even if they might be life-saving. "That proposal was notably unpopular, disliked by everyone, excoriated by many,” Callahan writes. Callahan was 56 years old at the time, and he recalls critics accusing him of being “a cold-hearted young person who knew nothing about old age.”