How much do you pay for one extra year of your life?

Medical spending does extend life.

A study published an New England Journal of Medicine (Aug, 2006) calculated that Americans of all ages spent an average of $19,900 on medical care for each extra year of life expectancy gained over the last four decades of the 20th century.

The researchers measured value by the cost of care that extends the average person's life by one year. The $19,900 spent for each extra year of life -- when averaged over 40 years -- would be widely considered a reasonable value. Many public and private insurers routinely pay for treatments that cost up to roughly $100,000 for each additional year of life.