Recently, I spoke at the Clinton Foundation’s Health Matters Conference about how we can improve the health of Americans and revamp our health care system.
I felt it was important to discuss issues that aren’t always seen as health-related, so I spoke about a recent interaction I had with one of Humana’s Medicare Advantage members. I’ve always found it motivating and educational to visit members because you learn so much about their particular needs. For the panel, I spoke about visiting “Betty”, who lives in an under-resourced area in South Florida.
Humana does member visits to ensure Medicare Advantage members like Betty – many of whom have difficulty getting to a doctor’s office – are receiving the right medical care. The visit with Betty lasted about an hour. Our nurse went over her medications and checked out her refrigerator to make sure she was eating nutritious foods.
During the visit, I asked Betty if there was anything specific we could do to help her. She said two words that have really stuck with me: “I’m lonely.”
Betty is an 80-year-old member living alone, whose limited means prevent her from being able to connect with other folks like her outside of her home. For Betty, loneliness is a health problem, and it needed to change.
Not How It’s Diagnosed
I asked our team to get Betty access to transportation (which they did right away) so she could interact with people. While it improved her situation, her loneliness comment got me thinking about the health implications of the problem.
John Cacioppo, Director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago and author of the book “Loneliness,” has described the growing issue of loneliness as not simply sad but as dangerous to our health. For example, in a recent TED presentation, he cited a study of 100,000 people that showed loneliness increased the odds of an early death by 45 percent.
A person’s health is not strictly limited to the standard physical and mental issues. We don’t diagnose loneliness as a health problem like we do obesity or asthma, but loneliness, which can lead to depression, can have a serious impact on an individual’s health and well-being.
One study on the impact of loneliness among seniors found that “people who reported being lonely were more likely to suffer a decline in health or die over a six-year period than those who were content with their social lives.”
With 10,000 people a day turning 65, loneliness is an issue that can have a significant impact on the health of our senior population.
How We “Treat” It
Social media and other technologies can help isolated people connect with friends and loved ones. Whether it’s using FaceTime to catch up with a grandchild or seeing a friend’s pictures on Facebook, these channels provide a valuable service for Betty and others to connect with people important to them that they don’t get to see that much.
These services, however, are only a small part of the solution. They must never be seen as a substitute from the emotional power of connecting with people in-person: a hug from a friend; a kiss from their granddaughter; an hour spent with a childhood neighbor. These in-person encounters are what we live for, what make us who we are, and, in some cases, are reminders to people like Betty that they’re not alone.
Start a Discussion
We all get wrapped up in our daily lives – work, children, grandchildren, friends. It’s important to stop and think about the people who don’t have the chances and/or resources for social interaction like many of us do.
The overall care of individuals like Betty is comprised not only of medical conditions but also social elements such as loneliness. At Humana, we’re focused on figuring out how to address the whole individual and not just the medical facets.
Loneliness may not be “diagnosed” like depression or obesity, but it can have a negative impact on one’s health. Not everyone – as Betty did – is going to tell us they feel lonely. The more we place this problem top of mind, the easier it will be to solve.
Photo: Creative Commons / OSU Commons