What if you took the $700K you will end up spending on your healthcare over your lifetime, and invested a portion of that into wellness (aka prevention) instead? For example, lets say you found ways to spend $200K on wellness, and thereby avoided $200K in healthcare costs as a result? It’s likely that everybody would want that, right?
Think of it. Same spend but better quality of life. Potentially a much better quality of life.
This belief in prevention and improving quality of life, is largely what drives $450 Billion of spend on wellness products and services in the U.S. (est 2021). An amount that totals about 1/6th of the $4.3 Trillion spent on traditional healthcare (est 2021). A sizeable chunk.
So can wellness actually reduce healthcare costs?
If so, then as the spend on wellness grows, spend on healthcare should decrease. However, that is not what is happening. At least not at the macro level. Look up any stats on these two industries. Both continue to grow, year after year at a steady clip.
Maybe wellness isn’t making us more well.
On top of that, perhaps you’ve concluded that an ounce of prevention requires two pounds of discipline, and it just isn’t worth it. The old saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is not only a gross overstatement, but isn’t even true!
To all the wellness naysayers we understand your arguments. But we ask that you suspend skepticism for a minute and let’s look at what a little light research and some reasonable assumptions and scenarios would suggest. True, wellness is typically not easy. It takes effort and is clearly not always successful. At the individual level though there is too much proof that money can buy wellness, and prevent health issues and related costs down the road.
This article is not only for the young, such as those in their 30s, or for the small children of motivated parents without all the baggage of poor past health decisions. There are still clear benefits if you are in your 60s, even in your 80s. This article is for everyone.
Whether you are 20 or 80, and you are willing to suspend skepticism of so called prevention… what would you invest in?
Mental wellness or physical wellness? How about financial wellness, emotional wellness, spiritual wellness or social wellness? Whichever you choose, an improvement in any one of these can’t help but produce an improvement in all areas.
Any effort no matter how small or how late in life will have an impact for good that is holisitic.
Let’s take an easy example… obesity.
It is well documented that obesity is linked to a decrease in quality of life. Not just physical, but financial, emotional, mental and even spiritual and social aspects of life. Just keeping a commitment to eat healthy for a 4-hour period generates immediate rewards for the commitment keeper, without fail, every time. The practice of mind over matter requires no research, only personal experience is necessary. Try it today. Do one thing you should do, but don’t, and see how you feel when you achieve it for a period of time that is difficult to achieve. No research paper can make you deny how you feel afterwards.
Assuming 4 hours was hard, now spend a single day with a caloric deficit, and the math can’t lie… your body will burn calories you didn’t consume that day. Before the benefits may have only been spiritual and mental, but now they just became physical.
This is wellness at its most basic level. Repeat it over and over, until you achieve a healthy weight, and the healthcare cost prevention becomes very real. With easily millions, possibly tens of millions of example across the web. They are easy to find.
Lets look at some data.
In one study 72% of corporate wellness programs reduced healthcare costs through short-term programs. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey (2010) found a 14 percent increase in wellness program participation when an incentive is offered.” Another study concluded that for every $1 spent on wellness, medical costs fell by $3.27. Nevermind wellness programs, what about simple alcholo and drug abuse costs? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report (2009), estimates these cost $276 billion each year, mostly in lost work productivity and healthcare costs related to abuse.
But remember, we aren’t only talking about those who are young, and we aren’t always talking about major life changes. Corporate wellness programs are usually very small. They require simple stuff like employees counting steps and accepting challenging to increase those steps.
There are so many common-sense wellness measures that can be taken at any age, and the benefit will be positive for your financial health.
If we know wellness can work then why, with the highest spend on wellness and highest spend per capita on healthcare of any country in the world, does the U.S. rank 47th for life expectancy?
The answer to this question can be incredibly complex. This is because the definition of “wellness” and what products or services should be included is very undefined. Coming up with a widely accepted defintion still needs years, maybe decade of debate to determine. Part of the reason it will take so long is Marketers are always looking to cash in on trends and new positive-terms like “wellness,” and undoubtedly a lot of non-beneficial products, services and advice are sold as “wellness.”
Humans are also complex. They can claim something is making them well while it is visibly making them sick.
Consensus on what wellness is will simply take time.
The reason to share and think about the macro data is to wake people up to do more research. What really matters are the smaller studies, hypotheticals and case studies that are not marketing ploys.
Earlier we talked about obesity, but let’s take another hypothetical: brushing our teeth.
Did you know that if you brush and floss your teeth twice instead of once a day, you will pay an extra $1700 for toothpaste over 75 years? An average of $22 more per year. A small ounce of an investment that can prevent a pound of cure at the dental office.
Let’s understand the math.
A tube of toothpaste and a pack of floss lasts 40 days if you brush and floss twice a day. If you multiply 365 days by 75 years, divide by 40 days and multiple by $5 (for toothpaste & floss) you get a total spend of $3,421. You could just floss and brush once a day and cut that spend in half over 75 years, and save $1700. But would it be worth it?
The average American without insurance will spend $75K on dental care over a 75-year period. If you could avoid all of that expense, that would be far more than a pound of cure. But tha’s unrealistic. Let’s look at true pound of cure. A pound is 16 ounces, and 16 multiplied by $1700 = $27,200. Doesn’t it seem reasonable to assume that the extra $1700 spent brushing and flossing an extra time every day could save you $27,200 in dental work? That would be 36% reduction in total dental costs. Totally hypothetical, but that seems very realistic.
This means for every $1 you invest in toothpaste and floss, you are paying yourself $16 down the road. A 1600% return on investment.
This doesn’t come close to beating the returns you could get on the S&P 500 for that same dollar. However, teeth embody the value of wellness. You can’t put a price on the quality of life that having, strong and healthy gums and teeth for a lifetime can have. You only get one set! No amount of dental work, vacations, and other goodies could take the place of the quality of life + 1600% return on a little extra toothpaste and floss.
We have barely scratched the surface of the positive impact wellness can have.
Going back to that person who would argue that two pounds of discipline required to implement one ounce of prevention isn’t worth it if it will only save a pound of cure. We say, then find ways to promote wellness that require no additional effort. You shop for and pay $X for the products you use and consume. Next time you shop, buy products that don’t’ have chemicals nor ingredients you can’t understand. You will very often find them at prices that equal what you are paying for that same product today. Let’s take something as simple as bath soap. You rub that soap in to your body, day after day indefinitely. Something as simple as finding a healthier soap will make a difference. Especially if you have sensitive skin. A good inexpensive, long-lasting hypoallergenic bar soap could be all you need. When you reach it for it, and its your only option, you’ve improved your wellness in a small way, and no discipline required.
It’s true, mainstream healthcare and its supporters in media have had a chip on their shoulders when it comes to wellness. They use terms like “Wellness Industrial Complex” presumably to counteract the “wellness industry’s” claims that healthcare is just sick care. Both sides have strong arguments.
But everybody should be urged to not take a side. Instead take the best that both have to offer.
The wellness industry’s criticism is easy of the healthcare industry… Americans spend more per capita than any other country on healthcare, while dozens of nations that spend a fraction of what Americans spend on healthcare have a longer life expectancy (Time magazine). Makes sense, if millions spend on average double what millions of other people spend on healthcare, is it too much too expect that the average health of those who spend more, would be a little better?
How about spending more, and your health is worse! Double whammy!
It takes about one minute of pondering to conclude that healthcare primarily makes it’s money from sick people. Do a little google research and your pondering is easily confirmed.
Diseases like cancer, autism, auto-immune and many other diseases are on the rise. That is who healthcare exists for. America is getting sicker, not healthier.
Conclusion
It’s time to start making your home your wellness center.
Stay tuned for the next post where we actually delve into how the home is the solution.