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Navigating a Complex Healthcare System

As Nir Barzilai & I discussed in podcast episode #204, one of the foundational lessons we can take away from studying centenarians — those who have lived to the age of 100+ — is that if you want to live longer, you have to live longer without chronic disease, not live longer with chronic disease.

Unfortunately, this is not how our current healthcare system is structured. Our current healthcare system is primarily geared toward helping you live longer once you develop chronic disease. As Allan Sniderman and I discussed, even the tactics geared toward prevention — such as the 10-year risk assessment for cardiovascular disease — are simply implemented much too late.

This, of course, is the opposite of the approach I take with my patients. Below is a collection of content discussing why early disease prevention is critical and how to be your own advocate in a complex healthcare system.

#111 – AMA #14: What lab tests can (and cannot) inform us about our overall objective of longevity

“Metabolic health really matters. It is the common thread that links all of these chronic diseases.” — Peter Attia

#92 – AMA #12: Strategies for longevity (which don’t require a doctor)

“If you are interested in longevity, if you are interested in playing with your great grandkids, you want to prioritize muscle mass. Never in the history of civilization has a 90 year old said, ‘I wish I had less muscle.’” —Peter Attia

#68 – Marty Makary, M.D.: The US healthcare system—why it’s broken, steps to fix it, and how to protect yourself

“We’re trying to empower people in the United States to say we need a competent and fair pricing system.” — Marty Makary

#54 – Kevin Sayer, CEO of Dexcom: Continuous glucose monitors – impact of food, sleep, and stress on glucose, the unmatched power of CGM to drive behavioral change, and the exciting future of CGM

“One of the most humbling things about this job is when I meet the children or the adult patients who has had this device change their life . . . it’s really why we come to work every day, what keeps us going.” —Kevin Sayer

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