I have my own theories, and like I said, I'm dealing with four elderly "test cases" for my theories ages 75,76,85, and 92 whom I speak with on a daily basis and see twice a week, at least.
One theory is that when a patient complains about "so and so" or "such and such", or just not feeling normal, the doctor feels obliged to hand out a med, or perform a test. They don't have the "guts" to look the elderly in the eye and say, it's because you're getting older, and "No" there is no cure for old age. Of course, one is not going to feel at 80 like they felt at 60, why should they expect to, but I've yet to run into a doctor that will tell them so. And hearing it from your kids doesn't seem to register.
My other theory is that the pharmaceuticals and medical industry have managed some slick advertising to make people believe that there is no such thing as "aging" in our modern world. You can stay young, do all you want to do, etc. until you are well advanced in years. So you look to the doctors and the meds to create this illusion and shield you from the fact that you are getting older.
It's a way of trying to "control" your grasp on life itself, which is slowly ebbing away.
At that point the patient would probably die from the shock of being told the truth!
The pharm/med industry pushes their fountains of youth as you say but I know somewhat younger people just as dependent on medications that they don't need. They seem to be conditioned to believe that medicine will heal their minds and bodies without any effort on their part when the fact is that very few medicines heal, most are crude bludgeons to suppress or enhance some bodily function without regard to consequences, and ignoring the ability of the body to regulate itself