Creating Healthier Communities launches a cross‑sector pledge to halve the U.S. life expectancy gap within ten years, highlighting a $1.4 trillion cost of health disparities
Executive summary: Creating Healthier Communities convened its first National Forum on July 24 2026, presenting Built to Thrive research that estimates the U.S. health gap costs $1.4 trillion and announcing a goal to cut the life expectancy gap in half within a decade. By attaching a substantial economic figure to health inequities, the effort seeks to mobilize public and private resources toward measurable health‑equity outcomes, potentially influencing funding, policy, and corporate social responsibility strategies.
Who is involved: Creating Healthier Communities (CHC), national leaders from various sectors, and the Built to Thrive research team.
Likely next: CHC will work with cross‑sector partners to implement initiatives aimed at reducing the U.S. life expectancy gap by 50 % over the next ten years.
The inaugural CHC National Forum brought together national leaders around the Built to Thrive research, which quantifies the nation's health gaps at $1.4 trillion. Participants secured commitments from various sectors to act on the findings. The initiative frames health equity as an economic imperative, aiming to translate research into concrete, multi‑stakeholder action over the next decade.
Timeline
- — Creating Healthier Communities Convenes National Leaders to Launch Bold Goal: Cut America's Life Expectancy Gap in Half Within a Decade (PR Newswire)