I do not think it is fair to compare people’s motivations before the advent of healthcare that could extend their lives for 10+ years to people’s motivations after the advent of healthcare.
It is possible both groups of people were just as self-interested, but one did not have the capacity to spend more resources in retirement, simply because they did not have the option to live as long.
Also, fairness has got nothing to do with it.
Plus, If we can only judge the outcome of circumstances based on arbitrary notions of fairness and not actual results it becomes easy to rationalize any outcome.
It is possible both groups of people were just as self-interested, but one did not have the capacity to spend more resources in retirement, simply because they did not have the option to live as long.