Japanese Official: ‘Let Elderly People Hurry Up and Die’

aaa2_566Taro Aso, Japan’s 72-year-old finance minister, says he’s worried about the financial burden that end-of-life care is placing on his country. ”Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die,” The Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying on Monday. “I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government,” he said during a meeting on social security reforms. “The problem won’t be solved unless you let them hurry up and die.” The newspaper noted that almost a quarter of Japan’s population is over 60, as is Aso. The Guardian also reported that rising welfare costs prompted last year’s decision to double Japan’s consumption [sales] tax to 10 percent over the next three years. MORE

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