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 Multiracial Well-Being: Landmark Federal Plan Could Boost Average Life Expectancy by 2.6 Years for All Americans

Morristown, N.J. [April 16, 2025] – A groundbreaking study published today in PLOS One 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 people 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 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, including an award-winning team of MIT-based system scientists and partners in the Department of Health and Human 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.”

Read the full study in PLOS One.

* The interagency plan was previously named the Federal Plan for Equitable Long-Term Recovery and Resilience (ELTRR)