From Sick Care to Healthspan:
Rethinking the Economics of Healthcare

As global life expectancy rises, a deeper question is surfacing: How do we not just live longer, but live better?

Extending lifespan without extending healthspan — the years we spend in good health — can place enormous physical, emotional, and financial burdens on individuals, families, and society.

The DSFP will be deep diving into this complex, urgent question through one of the seminars under its signature Thriving in the 100-Year Life series, titled “Economics of Healthcare: Understand and Navigate the Ecosystem,” led by Dr Jeremy Lim, Adjunct Associate Professor at NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

This seminar does not merely walk through the costs of healthcare. Instead, it opens up space for senior leaders to explore the forces that shape how care is structured, accessed, paid for, and why those structures matter deeply for those seeking to age well and age wisely.

“Healthcare in most countries has in truth become ‘sick care’,” says Dr Lim. “How do we reframe the narrative, especially in our later years, to bring everything we know about health and healthcare into optimising healthspan?”

“The incentives today are firmly behind disease treatment rather than prevention and enhancing health. We have the opportunity, leading from Singapore, to reset, pivoting the health system and underpinning economics for payers, providers and us as patients and customers. To truly add health to years and flourish as individuals and communities,” he added.

Through a blend of reflection, systems thinking, and group dialogue, DSFP Candidates will explore:

• The historical evolution of modern healthcare systems
• The interplay between public policy, health equity and access
• The Blue Zones model of healthy ageing, and whether Singapore could ever truly become one
• The principles of Lifestyle Medicine, an approach grounded in prevention and long-term well-being
• Personal strategies and heuristics to navigate the healthcare system more effectively for oneself and loved ones

Candidates will also take part in small-group discussions that surface lived experiences — from caregiving and chronic illness to navigating complex healthcare decisions — connecting policy to people.

The session culminates in a collective inquiry into the most pressing healthcare challenges Singapore faces today, and what role senior leaders might play in championing better outcomes across society.

At its heart, this seminar aligns closely with DSFP’s core pillars of Health, Purpose, and Community. For senior leaders contemplating their legacy and next chapter, it is an invitation to not just understand the system, but to shape it.

As the world wrestles with rising healthcare costs, ageing populations, and inequality in care, this seminar reminds us that health is both personal and political, both a right and a responsibility.