Health care costs, already a threat to our economic well-being, continue to grow. Today, health care spending exceeds the aggregate profits of the Fortune 500 and is expected to consume 19 percent of GDP by 2017. Developed nations are experiencing epidemics of “lifestyle” diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, and each year fewer Americans rate their health as excellent. The health care system appears unable to solve these problems.
On the other hand, awareness of and demand for wellness on the part of consumers is exploding, spreading across the socioeconomic spectrum. Wellness is rapidly becoming a fundamental middle class aspiration.
Consumer attitudes and expectations increasingly embrace wellness while individuals, employers and government struggle to manage the financial burden of health care. These disruptions have created opportunity. Wellness products and services, and the delivery of traditional health care that speaks to wellness, are creating value.
Capital markets are just beginning to respond to these trends.
