Xerox PARC Labs and the Failure of Health Care (Part 2)

A new hospital building is rising three miles from my home. Communities in the service area are growing and aging, so I’m betting the financial projections for a project this costly passed stress tests with room to spare.

Because I drive past the site often and work with many health industry folks, construction of these capital-heavy projects always gets my attention.

The new facility might well be essential to hold market share in our competitive health care market. But the questions they prompt for me are, “Will this lower, maintain, or increase health care costs?” and “Will this new facility improve our health?”

Financial planning shows a growing readiness to up its game with health planning, long-term care access, and affordability. But the intent falls far short of most client experiences, and even more so of results.

Retiree health consumes on average 16% of income, according to surveys. Adult obesity was 40.3% in the most recent CDC data, with severe obesity near 10%. Every U.S. state and territory had adult obesity of at least 25% in 2024. Meanwhile, our national investments in diet, movement, elder care, childcare, mental health, and prevention are small, fragmented, and politically exhausted. New obesity drugs might help. But we can’t medicate our way to health. Our shortcomings are not only cultural and medical, but also leadership.

To their credit, The Financial Planning Association and others have published work urging advisors to ask clients health questions and to recognize the financial implications of health habits, long-term care planning, caregiver support, and more.

In 1943, Abraham Maslow published a paper, “A Theory of Human Motivation” where he developed the hierarchy of needs that bears his name. To improve health, we don’t need to reach for “self-actualization.” Just progress.

In the full paper, Maslow’s went on to write that “Man is a perpetually wanting animal.” Once one desire is satisfied, another emerges, so needs should not be treated as isolated drives.

Last week, in the story of Xerox PARC labs and Steve Jobs, we saw the value of filtering new ideas and tools through a lens of human connections. Businesses (which means employees and owners) fund health care, so maybe it’s time we take a lead to improve it.

We feel so strongly about this that we merged health into our client goal setting, plan details, and monitoring. None of us wants to discuss it. But learning these things will open the door a crack. That might be all we need. Walk through it.