Age Is a Disease Companies and Workers Shouldn't Suffer

As an entrepreneur and CEO, I have always wanted the best health benefits for my associates. I want our folks to know that we care about the most important thing to them, their well-being. So I was deeply intrigued when I learned that some companies are looking to take that approach to the next level and in doing so are starting to redefine what top-quality health care looks like.

On one level this is radical thinking: Not just focusing on sick benefits or well-being, but even treating aging as a disease that can be managed and even forestalled, with potentially dramatic consequences for how long people will live and work. On another level, however, I believe that this is the start of a shift with which every CEO will have to reckon?

I have long engaged in longevity care for myself. I got my first full-body MRI, suggested by my old friend Dean Ornish, back in the early 2000s. I started to regularly monitor an entire panel of hormones at a trailblazing clinic in Southern California at about the same time. I went to Guadalajara, Mexico, to use stem cells to regrow damaged tissue that was limiting my ability to run and work out. So when I heard company leaders were thinking about this as a benefit for their associates, I was excited.?

But let's explore this evolution. The Covid-19 experience highlighted the salience of a holistic approach to employee well-being, mental health especially but overall for sure. We cannot let the pandemic's ebb minimize that revelation. Forward-looking leaders will push further faster, however, and get ahead of looming demographic realities which will force their hands anyway.

This is a natural, technology-driven progression. Our approach to health has already evolved, from sick care (addressing diseases when they occur) to health care (leaning into preventative medicine rather than waiting for sickness). Longevity care is the next step, though its logic doesn't diminish the impending shift's magnitude.

What will it look like??

No surprises.

We will push the boundaries of preventative care with cutting-edge diagnostic tools, proactively ensuring ongoing wellness instead of reacting to infirmity and disease. There's no reason in the 21st?century's third decade for cancer, heart disease, or Alzheimer's to surprise anyone -- or for people to wait for the disease to develop before dealing with it. It will mean lengthening our health spans, or how long one can live without requiring care.

A longevity dashboard.

Doctors will need to track your central longevity drivers in one easily understood spot. These can range from obvious data points such as blood pressure to things like hormone levels and other data collected during regular checkups. A McKinsey Health study last year identified 23 such drivers, only four of which fall into the traditional health care system. Your longevity dashboard will dig deeper, however, incorporating multi-omic?data sets, which the National Institute of Aging defines as those that "map the complex, multilayered interplay of genetics, metabolism, proteins, and other variables." Such analysis would not have been possible even a few decades ago because of the sheer volume of data, but doctors will use artificial intelligence tools to crunch the data.

A holistic approach.

Longevity care won't be an indulgence or add-on. You won't have to buy longevity coverage as a supplement to your regular health insurance. It will be part of your base package. By investing in preventative care and cutting-edge testing upfront, providers will be able to save money in the long run by forestalling or managing diseases and disabilities before they become critical and hyper-expensive.?

So health and longevity-focused companies such as Spartan, the race organizer, and Verijet, a company that arranges carbon-neutral private jet trips, have partnered with?Fountain Health, a company that produces insurance plans emphasizing this ultra-preventative regime by leveraging cutting-edge medical technology and artificial intelligence, while still offering traditional coverage. It's the first such offering I heard of.

If this sounds luxuriant, understand that demographics will soon compel it. Those 55 and up make up the fastest-growing part of the U.S. workforce. The number of Americans aged 65 or older -- the traditional retirement age -- has increased by more than 15 million people (38 percent) since 2010. And with roughly half of baby boomers still under 65, that number will grow. Seniors made up 17 percent of the population in 2020, a figure projected to reach 22 percent (nearly 81 million people) by 2040. In 2030, according to Census Bureau estimates, the U.S. will have more senior citizens than children, for the first time ever. The labor force participation rate for men 65 and over, which was under 20 percent as recently as 2005, has risen to around 23-24 percent in recent years. Between our chronically low national savings rate, an enduring labor shortage, and an understandable desire to remain engaged later in life, it's not going to decline.

This revolution in how we treat aging is in turn going to remake how we work. We're reframing how we think about career and life arcs. Eighty is becoming the new 65 -- and that figure will recede further in the future. Longevity care is a necessary start, but companies will have to adapt in other ways. Executives will have to rethink everything from career tracks to office layouts to accommodate this four-generation workforce.

The investor Michael Milken once told me that three things build loyalty in people: health, wealth, and children. Smart business leaders will keep that maxim in mind and reap the benefits as their most experienced workers stay engaged and on the job longer.