New Study Confirms: Landmark Federal Plan Could Enhance Multiracial Well-Being and Extend Life Expectancy for Everyone in America

New Study Reveals Historic Opportunity for Multracial Well-Being: Landmark Federal Plan Could Boost Average Life Expectancy by 2.6 Years for All Americans

Read the full study published in PLOS One

MORRISTOWN, N.J., April 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A groundbreaking study led by the Rippel Foundation was published today in PLOS One. The study explains how an interagency federal plan could dramatically improve well-being for all Americans, generating a 2.6-year increase in average life expectancy.

The research, led by the Rippel Foundation's ReThink Health initiative, models the potential impact of People and Places Thriving: The Federal Plan for Long-Term Resilience—formerly the Federal Plan for Equitable Long-Term Recovery and Resilience (ELTRR)—a landmark effort developed by 150+ career professionals across Republican and Democratic administrations.

Key Findings
The study explains how the U.S. population can thrive together more equitably across all aspects of American life—including, health, housing, transportation, and work.

Relying on many sources of previously disconnected data, this study confirms that the nation could make great strides toward multiracial well-being. Importantly, all parts of the plan could be implemented with existing resources, without any new funding appropriations or changes in agency authorities.

ReThink Health's simulation of the interagency plan shows that over the course of twenty-five years, all racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. could make significant progress, with the following results:

• Longer life expectancy: Average life expectancy could rise to 81.5 years (an increase of up to 2.6 years).
• More people thriving: The fraction of people thriving could increase by +20% to 73.5%.
• Fewer people suffering: The fraction of suffering could drop by -2.5% to 1.5%.
• Greater fairness: All racial/ethnic groups could improve, with the greatest increases among those who have the most to gain.

Why This Matters
The results of the model answer the question, "Under what conditions could the US reach new heights of multiracial well-being?" The study estimates the relative changes that could unfold over time in American communities if they, in cooperation with federal agencies, moved in the direction listed in the federal plan. "Currently, the country is stuck in a pattern with relatively little improvement in overall well-being," said Becky Payne, President and CEO of the Rippel Foundation. "For the first time, this study helps us see how and why specific policies, practices, and investment priorities could generate breakthrough results. If we could achieve the projected gains in thriving at a national level, it would be a truly historic achievement." Payne is also a former federal official who led the development of the federal plan.

"This study demonstrates that we have a concrete, comprehensive plan for transforming government and sharpening the coordination across agencies," said Payne. "It could improve all of the vital conditions that affect our lives. That approach can unlock the potential of all people and places across the country regardless of race, reversing legacies that have left many behind."

"This analysis explains why the federal plan is a plausible path that could move the nation toward a future with everyone thriving together," said study lead Bobby Milstein, Director of System Strategy at Rippel. "It demonstrates the potential power of sound, balanced investments in well-being, as well as the value of dynamic modeling as a way to understand the likely consequences of alternative investments."

Payne underscores that, "The plan refocuses government attention to the interdependence of agencies and the power of making choices focused on a commitment to make great strides toward an equitable, thriving future together – and the simulation results show how far and how fast things could change, as well as why this plan could succeed when other attempts have fallen short."

Systems Dynamics Modeling
For the first time, the assumptions and conditions of an encompassing federal government plan have been laid out and analyzed through system dynamics modeling.

Modeling to assess the plan's potential significance was conducted by The Rippel Foundation's ReThink Health initiative, working with an award-winning team of MIT-based system scientists and partners in the Department of Health and Health Services. Rippel was not contracted by the government to conduct the study; the Foundation developed and published its modeling independently.

The model used in this study—ReThink Health's Thriving Together Model is available to changemakers nationwide who want to explore how their own scenarios for multiracial well-being could play out over time. As Payne noted, "This isn't just a theoretical exercise—it's a tool for turning hope into reality." 

About The Federal Plan
The interagency plan, known as People and Places Thriving: The Federal Plan for Long-Term Resilience is a transpartisan plan: produced by over 150 career professionals, working through both Republican and Democratic administrations. It was initiated and completed under the first Trump Administration, then thoroughly vetted for public release under the Biden Administration. It has been endorsed by forty-seven federal agencies, up from thirty-three when it was first published in November 2022. The interagency plan was previously named the Federal Plan for Equitable Long-Term Recovery and Resilience (ELTRR).

About The Rippel Foundation and ReThink Health
The Rippel Foundation is a nonprofit operating foundation committed to fostering equitable health and well-being. Rippel works with health care organizations, foundations, corporations, government institutions, and change agents across the United States to guide thinking and action that inspires innovative system transformation.

Rippel's flagship initiative, ReThink Health, explores how to achieve equitable system change in real-world settings. Over the last decade, ReThink Health has developed an award-winning suite of dynamic maps and models— including the Thriving Together Model—that tangibly demonstrate what it takes to build a future where everyone thrives together, with no exceptions. Learn more about our dynamic modeling work here.

For questions about our dynamic modeling, please email Bobby Milstein at bmilstein@rippel.org.

For media inquiries, contact Laila Hussain at lhussain@rippel.org. 

For more information, visit www.rippel.org.

About PLOS ONE
The world's first multidisciplinary Open Access journal, PLOS ONE accepts scientifically rigorous research, regardless of novelty. PLOS ONE's broad scope provides a platform to publish primary research including interdisciplinary and replication studies as well as negative results. The journal's publication criteria are based on high ethical standards and the rigor of the methodology and conclusions reported.

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SOURCE The Rippel Foundation