Dan Callahan, cofounder of The Hastings Center, wrote another essay in the New York Times's “New Old Age” blog on November 24, responding to more than 160 comments to his earlier essay stating that health care should be rationed for the elderly as a way to keep Medicare solvent. Callahan was invited to write both essays 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 original 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.”