HIMSSCast: Health span is a choice

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There’s no reason, if diseases are caught in their early stages, that most of us can’t live until our 90s, according to the Deloitte report, “How employers can spark a movement to live longer. healthier lives.”

The research team identified the top 10 drivers of death and disease, which account for 70% of deaths, according to report coauthor Andy Davis, principal for Deloitte Consulting’s Health Care practice.

Five of these factors are around lifestyle and behavior. Genetics, access to healthcare and a healthy environment also play a role. Behavioral and lifestyle choices to exercise, drink or smoke – all of which influence how long we will live – are within our control. But despite our knowledge of what is good and bad for us, the average lifespan for Americans has dropped from age 78 to 76 in the last year-and-a-half, Davis said.

Behaviors are hard to change. The hardest to change? “Drinking is the hardest thing to walk away from,” Davis said.

Motivation rests partly with employers, who own the risk in commercial plans.

And while more of us living healthy lives would bring down healthcare costs, which would show a metric to success, “The hardest thing to showcase is that an event never happened,” said Davis.

For more, please listen to Davis’ conversation with Susan Morse, executive editor of Healthcare Finance News.

Talking Points:

There’s a difference between lifespan and health span, with the latter related to quality of life
Black Americans have an average lifespan of 72.7 years with a health span below 60 years
American Indian or Alaskan Natives have an average lifespan of 68.3 years and a health span below 54 years
White Americans live an average of 78.5 years and have a health span of 66 years
Asian Americans have an average lifespan of 84.6 years and have a health span of 77.5 years
Hispanics have an average lifespan of 78.9 years and a health span under 69 years.
Lifestyle is a bigger factor in how long we live than innovations in science and curative therapies
For providers and payers the mechanisms to better health are around value-based care.
Employers have leverage through standard and alternative benefits
A barrier is that, on average, people switch insurers every 18-30 months, making it harder to capture ROI in high cost benefits
Medicare Advantage plans will be judged on a health equity index starting with the 2027 star ratings