We are living through a demographic transition. Health systems, payers, and providers are racing to close the healthspan gap. So is a booming consumer longevity industry, moving faster than regulators can keep up.
Every day in the U.S.,10,000 people celebrate their 65th birthday. The last Baby Boomers turn 65 within the next few years. And by 2034, the number of adults 65 and older will outnumber those under age 18 for the first time in history.
We are living through a massive demographic shift. The average lifespan has increased by 20 years since 1960. However, we aren’t living healthier for longer.
“That is a remarkable accomplishment for society that we should all be celebrating. What is not as exciting is that the amount of time we spend in good health has stayed the same,” Lucy Pérez, a senior partner at Mckinsey Health Institute report and a global leader of the Mckinsey Health Institute (MHI), focused on health equity, women’s health, workforce health, and the economic value of investing in human health, tells HLTH. “If you're living longer, but connected to machine tools, many will say that's not living.”
The gap between how long we live and how long we live in good health is a whitespace for health systems, payers, and providers to intervene to improve outcomes and quality of life in people’s final decade. This healthspan gap is about 12 years in the U.S., the largest among developed countries. Women also spend 25% longer in poor health compared to men. We cannot talk about the future of healthcare without talking about what it means to not only care for the growing aging population but to help them proactively plan for a healthier, longer life.
Healthy public aging and closing the gap is about investing in advancements across metabolic health and brain health, and uncovering sex-based differences in medicine, Pérez says. At HLTH USA, we will be having all of those conversations in the theme of aging well, and further exploring the growing space of consumer longevity which has grown in lockstep with the demographic shift.
The focus on healthspan
The GLP-1 boom put the importance of metabolic health, the core markers like blood sugar and insulin sensitivity that show how your body turns food into energy, in the spotlight. It's also opened up a bigger conversation about prevention over treatment in the name of prioritizing healthspan and aging well.
“This focus on metabolic health that has been catalyzed by the GLP-1s really shines much more of a light on the need to be thinking systems wise about human physiology,” Pérez says. “For so long, we were focused on lifespan, we were focused on mortality, and when you think about that, it's much more about acute care. ‘How do we keep this person alive?’ There has not been that level of attention and focus on chronic care.”
Last year at HLTH USA, John Hancock, in collaboration with the MIT AgeLab revealed the inaugural Longevity Preparedness Index (LPI), underscoring that prioritizing healthspan is about overall health, including metabolic and brain health, but also social connectedness, financial stability, daily activities, and more.
“Thinking about healthy aging, it is predicated on thinking of health as an investment rather than a cost,” Pérez says. “These investments that you're making have an ROI of at least four to one.”
What’s hopeful is that we are on the precipice of innovations targeting aging, and the underlying factors that influence how well you age.
Innovation’s aging opportunity
Technology is innovating to address neurodegenerative diseases through earlier detection and prevention, while health systems are embracing AI-driven predictive diagnostics.
“Not only is the population aging, but we're also at a moment where technology has the potential to dramatically improve quality of life as people age. Innovation is also bringing new ways to tackle longstanding problems,” Amelia Hay, Vice President of Startup Programming & Investments at the AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP, tells HLTH. “We're on the cusp of a new era where innovation can help people stay active and independent longer.”
Hay is most excited about innovations like exoskeletons alongside hearing tech that allow people to maintain independence as they age and stay engaged. She’s also optimistic about robotic solutions and remote monitoring that could ease the burden on America's 63 million caregivers. At the AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP, Hay says the focus is on technological innovations that can close the healthspan-lifespan gap and make aging innovations accessible.
At the same time, consumer health companies are also capitalizing on the demographic shift and stepping in, offering products and non-traditional health avenues, often at a heftier price. You’ve heard it as preventive health, precision medicine, optimization, and, most likely, longevity.
The consumer longevity boom
Last year, a McKinsey report found that over 60% of U.S. consumers say it’s extremely or very important to buy products in the name of aging well and longevity.
“The conversation around aging often focuses on what happens later in life, but aging well starts much earlier than most people realize, and the decisions we make throughout life matter,” Hay says. “What we're learning is that small changes earlier in life can have an outsized impact later on.”
The consumer space has been growing rapidly, offering people products, memberships that give biomarker testing in the comfort of your home, and concierge medicine in the name of living longer. The offerings have forced us to ask, how much data is truly needed in the world of prevention?
“Consumers are more interested in their own health and health outcomes. There's much more education. We're talking a lot more about these things, and that is influencing a desire to know how best to intervene, and ideally intervene early from a prevention standpoint,” says Pérez, adding that it’s been increasingly hard to know how. “That's the crux of the question. What is meaningful, right? Because sometimes, the other risk that you run is too much data, so many biomarkers you could be measuring different endpoints. It is easy to get overwhelmed. Where's those evidence-based guidelines?”
On the consumer longevity front, another major question we’re tackling is how regulatory bodies can keep up with the pace. The FDA is currently weighing whether a class of new peptides touted for their anti-aging benefits will be eligible for compounding, despite contended scientific rigor for their marketed claims. For one, the American Medical Association posed caution to consumers earlier this year, many of whom have sought out peptides from social media claims.
It will be imperative to watch the regulatory space, as more people are marketed ways to level up their health, while also delving into the systemic ways health leaders are prioritizing and innovating to improve public healthy aging. Aging well as a public health initiative and longevity as a consumer health category can sometimes feel at odds. At HLTH, we will break down both spaces and have honest conversations about the next wave of aging well and what it means to prioritize healthspan.
As longevity becomes one of healthcare's defining challenges and opportunities, the AgeTech Collaborative™ from AARP is expanding its presence at HLTH USA this year. Their programming brings together startups, investors, enterprise leaders, and innovators exploring how technology, partnerships, and new care models can help people live longer, healthier, and more independent lives. Through Startup Pitch and Founders Day, the initiative will spotlight emerging companies and the ideas shaping the future of healthy aging. Learn more and grab your pass before prices increase Friday, July 31.
Alexa Mikhail, Content Lead and Senior Health Writer at HLTH, Inc. is leading the aging and longevity agenda and programming at HLTH USA this year. Join her in Las Vegas this November 15-18, 2026.