The Wellness Opportunity

Today one sixth of the gross domestic product of the United States, roughly $2 trillion, is spent on healthcare costs.  Some experts believe this healthcare system is reactive and focused on treating sickness rather than promoting wellness.  Wellness, by contrast, is defined as “the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal.”  As an industry, wellness includes disparate services provided by scientists, fitness providers, businesspeople, food manufacturers and doctors, all focused on the common goals of disease prevention and longevity.  Today this $500 billion industry is poised for significant growth due to multiple factors, including:

• Over 95% of all modern day illness is linked to stress and the excess of stress hormones such as cortisol that we continuously carry in our blood stream.
• Despite the growth of the wellness industry from $200 billion to $500 billion in the last five years, the untapped market for wellness has actually increased in size and is expected to reach $1 trillion in the next five years.
• The current system of reactive medicine will not be able to meet the increasing demands of an aging population.  A new approach based on proactive or “wellness” strategies for promoting health will be critical to meeting this challenge.
• In 2005, the cost of providing U.S. employees health benefits exceeded profits for the Fortune 500 largest corporations, and employers are beginning to recognize that the only long-term solution to rising healthcare costs are wellness programs that increase fitness and prevent disease from occurring in the first place.
• In the United States alone, the unfunded local and state government obligation to provide unlimited healthcare to former employees now exceeds $1 trillion.
• Despite a rising economy since the beginning of the 1990s, U.S. personal bankruptcy filings have tripled from approximately 750,000 in 1990 to 2,000,000 in 2005.  Much of the increase resulted from family medical catastrophes. As corporations cut benefits in reaction to skyrocketing health insurance premiums, Americans will be forced to take responsibility for their own medical costs.

All of the above factors will lead to a doubling of the industry in the next 5 years, according to Paul Zane Pilsner, a Reagan administration economist turned wellness expert who has written several books on the subject.  The New York Times led its business section late last year with a discussion of wellness, defined as “a broad term for the multibillion dollar arena that includes things like vitamins, yoga, urban wellness centers and Pilates,” as the next big growth industry.

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