The Problem: Adult social care in the UK is an expensive failure.

The Solution: Legalise assisted dying and let people choose to maximise the quality of their life, not the length of it.

Would you rather die at 65 having lived a great life full of leisure, or die in a care home in pain aged 86?

There has been a lot of discussion about adult social care in the UK with the volume of deaths from Covid-19 and the enduring cost and poor quality of care.

The government’s response has been predictable; raising taxes to pump more money into the system rather than considering how to improve it.

At the same time, employees in the UK are automatically enrolled into pension, contributing part of their salary while trying to pay high rent or a mortgage and have enough left over to enjoy their lives.

But this follows a strange logic; that most money should be spent on people in their old age when their quality of life is at its lowest, rather than investing earlier on to give people the best possible life they can lead.

I propose something different; give people the opportunity to plan when their lives will end, to enable them to frontload joy and get the best quality of life possible.

The idea would be that people commit to ’75 and out’; that they will end their lives close to their 75th Birthday.

Not because they would be close to the end of their days then, necessarily, but because it is a good balance between longevity and quality of life; for most people, the years beyond 75 are a terminal decline, so it is good to exit on top.

Assisted dying would need to be legalised, but knowing they could end their lives at their own choosing would enable people to plan the best possible life they could live.

Instead of saving as much as possible into a pension, people could instead spend the money on leisure.

They would still pay a social care tax in case they opted against choosing assisted dying, but it would be refunded upon them deciding to end their lives, enabling them to finish strong, ticking off their bucket list.

The saving to the state would be huge, enabling spending to be targeted on early years education and wider support to enable people to live the highest quality of life, rather than just longevity.

It would require a significant shift in social norms, ridding ourselves of old-fashioned religious negativity associated with assisted dying, but that is achievable.

The key point is not to bring in assisted dying solely for those who are terminally ill, since then it is too late; it is to bring it in as an option for everyone, so that, if we choose, we can focus on quality over longevity.

It must not become mandatory to get to 75 and out, since that is a slippery slope to dictatorship, but it should be an option.

I should rather die at 65 having lived a great life, than live to 86 having lived a dull one; I should at least be given the choice, as should everyone else.